Canucks: Arturs Silovs needs a contract

Article content

CapFriendly may soon be going dark, the men behind it having been signed up by the Washington Capitals to work in their hockey operations department, but its continued existence reminds us of two things when we zoom into the Vancouver Canucks’ roster page for 2024-25.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Canucks: Arturs Silovs needs a contract Back to video

First of all, the Canucks still have about $1 million in salary cap space.

Second, Arturs Silovs needs a contract.

It’s pretty easy to tie those two truths together.

But why Silovs hasn’t yet signed isn’t obvious. His agent Paul Theofanous hasn’t replied to queries, and Silovs’ status hasn’t been commented on much by the team, other than a carefully delivered remark from GM Patrik Allvin in late June, before the opening of the free agency window.

“We’re very pleased with Silovs and his progress, his play and performance in the playoffs. The discussion is what’s best for him and what’s best for the Vancouver Canucks. At this point, we’re still talking internally. But Silovs is definitely a good candidate to be on the big team next year,” Allvin said.

He had been asked about Silovs’ position on the depth chart, with the unstated question being whether Allvin would look for a veteran to back up Thatcher Demko next season.

It wasn’t exactly an endorsement of Silovs, with lots of chatter in the moment that the Canucks might have some concerns about Demko’s status going into next season. Demko was close to a return to action at the end of the Canucks’ playoff run, but speculation in late June suggested maybe his off-season wasn’t going as planned.

There has been no further suggestion that’s the case, and the fact that the only goalie Allvin signed in free agency was Jiri Patera was telling about Silovs’ likely position on the depth chart — Silovs isn’t perfect, but he did enough in the playoffs to show he can handle NHL starts, while Patera signed a two-year, two-way deal with Vancouver.

You don’t sign a backup goalie to a two-way contract, which pays you less in the minors than in the NHL.

Patera was No. 3 in Vegas for the past two seasons, managing eight appearances for the Golden Knights, but hardly showing anything that suggests he is a better prospect to start the season as Demko’s backup over Silovs.

So if we assume Silovs is the backup for next season, a contract for about $1 million per season makes sense.

And conceivably, if you get it for a little less than the slight-more-than-$1 million you still have in cap space, that would, amazingly, give the Canucks a chance to finally accrue cap space next season.

That was an issue Allvin raised during 2023-24, the fact his team couldn’t accrue any cap space over the season. That made making trades more difficult.

The Canucks were close to trading for Chris Tanev this season, for instance, but because they were essentially out of cap space, they were beat out by the Dallas Stars. If Vancouver hadn’t needed Calgary to retain salary on Tanev, the story might have been different.

Allvin did admit to Postmedia after the trade deadline that he had tried to off-load Tucker Poolman’s contract, which would remove a $2.5-million dead weight from the team’s salary cap, but he wasn’t able to, obviously.

In hockey, you never say never, so perhaps this might yet come to pass.

And if that were to happen, there would be more money to pay Silovs, one supposes. But whether his agent is waiting on this possibility isn’t known.

In the end, Silovs’ contract is a lone loose, hanging thread for Allvin. Stitching it up will likely show the way toward what else Allvin might do to shore up his squad.

pjohnston@postmedia.com