There’s cost certainty in Jared McCann and uncertainty in how the Canucks approach free agent Brock Boeser.
It’s easy to keep picking away at the Jared McCann trade scab.
Especially with McCann striking for 96 goals during the last three NHL seasons, including a career-high 40 in the 2022-23 campaign. He has also been a Canucks killer with 17 points (5-12) in 20 games during his tenure in Seattle.
McCann, 28, is back in the local consciousness because he is reportedly available and there will be several suitors. He’s a salary-cap fit for any club believing this substandard season of 14 goals in 57 games is more of an anomaly than an aging concern.
And with two more seasons at an annual US$5 million salary-cap hit, he can either help a playoff-bound contender or help reshape a roster.
Which brings us to the Canucks.
Boeser, 27, ranks 13th in franchise scoring with 419 regular-season points (197-222) in 527 games, and is on pace for 30 goals this season, despite missing seven games with a concussion. He then had a pair of five-game goal droughts before finding his form with five goals in a three-game span.
More importantly, Boeser showed up last season when it mattered most. He tied for the club lead in playoff scoring with a dozen points (7-5) in 12 games, including a hat-trick, before being sidelined with a blood-clot issue.
“We showed the commitment that we wanted to raise expectations,” Boeser said of the playoff push. “It was a great year and the most fun since I’ve been in Vancouver. It set the tone for this year.”
It’s why Boeser took the high road at the outset of this season.
He bet on himself by becoming more complete and reliable to augment natural scoring ability. And with deft tips and deflections in getting to the net, it should add up to an extension. He summed it up in four words: “Let it play out,” said Boeser, who also ranks fourth in franchise game-winning goals with 29.
There is a contract comparable that could work in Boeser’s favour, along with the team salary cap ceiling rising from $88 million this season to $95.5 million, $104 million and $113 million in the next three years. A considerable pay increase on an expiring three-year, $19.95 million extension, that carries a $6.65 million salary cap hit, seems logical if the Canucks don’t have other plans.
They might if Boeser’s camp pushes for what winger Travis Konecny is earning with the Philadelphia Flyers. And if they part company, a modified no-trade clause means Boeser can veto a move to 10 teams on his list.
Konency agreed to an eight-year, $70 million extension last July that carries an $8.75 million annual cap hit. That’s probably too rich for the Canucks, but is likely to be the pitch from Boeser’s camp when the dance between salary and term resumes.
Boeser and Konecny were the 23rd and 24th overall selections respectively in the 2015 NHL draft. They have kept that close connection in production the past three seasons and there is little to separate the wingers.
Konecny had 181 points (80-101) over that span and consecutive seasons of 31 and 33 goals. Boeser had 174 points (81-93) over the past three campaigns and is coming off a career-best 40 goals. Last season, the point-per-game comparison had Boeser at 0.90 and Konecny at 0.89.
Meanwhile, as for making something of any McCann interest, a lot is tied to the roster fit and salary cap space.
He scored five goals in his first nine games as a 19-year-old rookie in the 2015-16 season, but that swagger swiftly subsided. With 14- and 25-game scoreless droughts, he was shifted from the demanding centre position to wing to get a better grip on the NHL game.
He needed to get stronger. He was 34.7 per cent in the faceoff circle, and nine goals in 69 games played into a trade need to bolster the Canucks back end. McCann was moved in a May 2016 package for Erik Gudbranson of the Florida Panthers.
“I don’t know what triggered this and I’ve got to deal with it,” a flustered McCann told this reporter at the time of his Canucks departure. “Everything happens for a reason.”
His trade journey from Vancouver to Florida to Pittsburgh and Toronto includes 39 goals and 84 points in 141 games with the Penguins. It was there that he became part of Jim Rutherford’s managerial mantra for acquiring and trading the same players for one reason or another.
The Penguins were wary of McCann becoming an expansion claim by the Kraken and moved him to Toronto. The Maple Leafs also had the same concern without a protection slot, and by dangling McCann, they hoped to retain Alex Kerfoot and Justin Holl.
It came to fruition when the Kraken selected McCann and that leap of faith was followed by three solid seasons.