Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin met with the media on Friday morning ahead of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft and the free agency frenzy that will follow.
He spoke about creating cap space with the Ilya Mikheyev trade, and how that allowed him and his management team to sign pending free agents such as Teddy Blueger, Tyler Myers, and Dakota Joshua to contract extensions.
“Going back here to the season ended, discussions have been ongoing with the UFAs and us to open up more flexibility by trading [Ilya] Mikheyev here the other today, we felt good to go back to Tyler Myers, Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger, and even Nikita Zadorov to get the deals done. And we're very pleased to have Myers, Dakota and Blueger signed,” said Allvin.
“And as of today, it appears we couldn’t go any further with Nikita Zadorov and he will test the free agency market. For us, it's just not about each individual. It's about getting a team that is competitive and fitting the puzzles [pieces] in. So that's the direction that Nikita has decided to go, and we did our best, and we couldn't go any further.”
Allvin gave an update on his team’s feeling heading into the NHL draft with a third, fourth, two sixths and a seventh-round pick.
“I'm very pleased with my amateur staff, and how well Todd Harvey has worked this year with his staff and with the support, with Cammi Granato putting the list together. At this point, it's hard to predict if we are going to move up. I mean, sitting in the third round, depending on if some of the players that [our scouting staff] feel strongly about potentially being available, if there is a chance to move up, I’m sure going to try. But listening to Todd and his staff, it sure appears that there are some intriguing players, even further down the list. So, at this point, I'm very confident that my staff will find players outside the first and second rounds.”
The GM answered a question about Artūrs Šilovs and the goaltending situation.
“We're very pleased with Šilovs and his progress here. His play and performance in the playoffs, and the discussions, obviously, are [about] what's best for him and what's best for the Vancouver Canucks. At this point, we're still talking internally, but Šilovs is definitely a good candidate to be on the big team next year.”
The 2024 NHL Entry Draft gets going on Friday night with round one beginning at 4:00 pm PT. Day two, which sees rounds two through seven begins at 8:30 am PT.
Free agency begins on Monday, July 1st at 9:00 am PT.
We will also have Canucks development camp beginning on Monday.
