The offseason has not been friendly to the Vancouver Canucks. They lost two top-six defencemen for nothing, with Nikita Tryamkin leaving for Russia and Luca Sbisa having to don the Vegas black-and-gold next season as part of the Expansion Draft.
The NHL free agency provides the Canucks with an opportunity to make up for those losses without giving up any extra assets.
With the departure of Sbisa and his $3.6 million payroll, Vancouver certainly has the capacity to make some noise in the open market where the highest bidder — more often than not — wins the services of a player.