Halak signs one-year contract with Canucks

Jaroslav Halak signed a one-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday for $1.5 million and another $1.5 million in performance bonus eligibility.

The 36-year-old goalie was 9-6-4 with a 2.53 goals-against average, .905 save percentage and two shutouts in 19 games (17 starts) for the Boston Bruins last season.
"He has experience, he's played a long time in the league, he's had a lot of success through the years, and we just think it's a good fit with Thatcher Demko] that we have an experienced guy, and he was available, he wanted to come to Vancouver and be part of our group," Canucks general manager Jim Benning said.
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Selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the ninth round (No. 271) of the 2003 NHL Draft, Halak is 281-173-62 with a 2.48 GAA ,916 save percentage and 52 shutouts in 539 games (517 starts) with the Bruins, New York Islanders, Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues and Canadiens. He is 17-20 with a 2.48 GAA and .919 save percentage in 39 Stanley Cup Playoff games (37 starts).
Halak will replace goalie Braden Holtby, who had the final season of his two-year, $8.6 million contract ($4.3 million average annual value) contract bought out by the Canucks and
signed a one-year, $2 million contract
with the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
The Canucks also signed defensemen Tucker Poolman to a four-year, $10 million contract ($2.5 million AAV), Travis Hamonic ($3 million AAV) and Luke Schenn ($850,000 AAV) each to a two-year contract, and forward Brandon Sutter to a one-year contract worth $1.125 million.
"We're going to have seven new players on the team," Benning said. "That's almost one-third of our roster. It was a disappointing season for us last year (last place in the seven-team Scotia North Division) and I said I was going to be aggressive and I think we have been aggressive and we'll just have to see where that all plays out, but I want to be a playoff team next year and expect to be a playoff team."
Poolman, who was an unrestricted free agent, had one assist in 39 games with the Winnipeg Jets last season and two points (one goal, one assist) in eight playoff games. Selected by Winnipeg in the fifth round (No. 127) of the 2013 NHL Draft, the 28-year-old has scored 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in 120 regular-season games and two points in 14 playoff games.
"He's a big kid (6-foot-2, 199 pounds), good mobility," Benning said. "I thought he had a real good season this year as far as being a good defensive player. … So he's a guy that we've been watching for a while, and to be able to add him to our group, we just think it will be a good mix on the back end."
Hamonic, who turns 31 Aug. 16, was an unrestricted free agent. He scored 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 38 games with the Canucks last season. Selected by the New York Islanders in the second round (No. 53) of the 2008 NHL Draft, he has scored 198 points (40 goals, 158 assists) in 675 regular-season games with the Canucks, Calgary Flames and Islanders, and four points (one goal, three assists) in 22 playoff games.
Schenn was an unrestricted free agent. The 31-year-old scored four points (two goals, two assists) in 38 regular-season games with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, and one goal in eight playoff games to help them win the Cup.
Selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round (No. 5) of the 2008 draft, Schenn has scored 152 points (33 goals, 119 assists) in 797 regular-season games with the Lightning, Canucks, Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers and Maple Leafs. He has scored six points (three goals, three assists) in 31 playoff games and also won the Cup with the Lightning in 2020.
Sutter, who was an unrestricted free agent, scored 12 points (nine goals, three assists) in 43 games with the Canucks last season. Selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round (No. 11) of the 2007 NHL Draft, the 32-year-old has scored 289 points (152 goals, 137 assists) in 770 regular-season games with the Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Hurricanes, and 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 50 playoff games.
"He's an important player in our group. He's one of the leaders of our group," Benning said. "We just felt like some of the guys we traded were some veteran players that had a calming effect on our group, and I think having Brandon back is good for our group, he's well liked in the dressing room."
In the past two weeks, the Canucks acquired defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and forward Conor Garland from the Arizona Coyotes, forward Jason Dickinson from the Dallas Stars, and traded defenseman Nate Schmidt to the Winnipeg Jets.
"We wanted to turn the team over," Benning said. "Now if you look at our forward group, we're young, I think we got faster, we added two top-nine forwards to our group, we added a top-pairing defenseman in 'OEL,' we got bigger and stronger on the back end, we got an experienced goalie."
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report