Free Agency 2026

[Cousin Strawberry]

Any aging vets signing with a bottom seed like Van are looking for long summers and lowered expectations. Warriors want to win

How are we finding a warrior willing to forego dreams of a championship without attracting slackers? They would have to be hometown guys

[donlever]

Yeah...I agree Cuz...a guy wants to win and have another Cup shot as his career dwindles.

Hence the requirement to overpay.

Gudas is not coming here I wouldn't think....

[Cousin Strawberry]

Remember all the shit Benning received for signing those types of vets (Beagle, Roussel and that other guy...?).

Brock plays like one of those aging vets who loves his longs summers except he's only 29. What a fail that extension turned out to be

[Topper]

Like a Jay Beagle type, hugely respected in the Caps lockeroom or similarly a Brandon Sutter type of vet?

Character guys to steady the ship.

edit, Cuz was posting the same

[Lancer]

Like a Jay Beagle type, hugely respected in the Caps lockeroom or similarly a Brandon Sutter type of vet?

Character guys to steady the ship.

edit, Cuz was posting the same

Problem was Benning chronically overpaid for those types. Guys like Bluegers could be had relatively cheaply for same effect. Maybe I’m partial to Latvians, but I would rather they bring Teddy back as one of those vets.

[Topper]

Like a Jay Beagle type, hugely respected in the Caps lockeroom or similarly a Brandon Sutter type of vet?

Character guys to steady the ship.

edit, Cuz was posting the same

Problem was Benning chronically overpaid for those types. Guys like Bluegers could be had relatively cheaply for same effect. Maybe I’m partial to Latvians, but I would rather they bring Teddy back as one of those vets.

Read Donny's post above.

[Tciso]

Remember all the shit Benning received for signing those types of vets (Beagle, Roussel and that other guy...?).

Brock plays like one of those aging vets who loves his longs summers except he's only 29. What a fail that extension turned out to be

Benning gave all those guys too much term. He overpaid too, but it was the 4 year contracts that killed us.

[Cornuck]

Any aging vets signing with a bottom seed like Van are looking for long summers and lowered expectations. Warriors want to win

I can also see guys signing who feel they have a chance to contribute. Maybe they're pressbox guys on better teams, but they might get decent minutes with the Canucks and have a shot to prove they're worth a better contract in a year or two.

[Lancer]

Like a Jay Beagle type, hugely respected in the Caps lockeroom or similarly a Brandon Sutter type of vet?

Character guys to steady the ship.

edit, Cuz was posting the same

Problem was Benning chronically overpaid for those types. Guys like Bluegers could be had relatively cheaply for same effect. Maybe I’m partial to Latvians, but I would rather they bring Teddy back as one of those vets.

Read Donny's post above.

Not every vet is looking for a payday or a championship. A guy like Bluegers has a ring, and has already said he’d like to resign in Van - and he knows as well as anyone what’s in the room.

He can’t be the only vet worth pursuing in that category.

[Meds]

“Ship-steadying vets” are guys who want to win but no winning team needs them because they already have guys like that. If they want to play for a contender they will have to sign for league minimum and accept a lesser role, perhaps even just as a paid spectator for most of the season.

Money and ice-time both talk with loud voices.

[JelloPuddingPop]

Money and ice-time both talk with loud voices.

A good point here - perhaps target some vet coming off a down/injury-plagued season who is looking for opportunities or ice time to get noticed for a final contract somewhere else but can steady the ship for a year and a half on a lucrative 2 year deal.

[donlever]

Remember all the shit Benning received for signing those types of vets (Beagle, Roussel and that other guy...?).

Brock plays like one of those aging vets who loves his longs summers except he's only 29. What a fail that extension turned out to be

Benning gave all those guys too much term. He overpaid too, but it was the 4 year contracts that killed us.

Which is my point...

[donlever]

Money and ice-time both talk with loud voices.

A good point here -

[Ronning's Ghost]

Any aging vets signing with a bottom seed like Van are looking for long summers and lowered expectations. Warriors want to win.

At least one other poster (I'm thinking MCP and Aaron, but as stated elsewhere, my memory isn't what it was) have suggested another reason why competitive vets would want to sign with Vancouver, and Vancouver would want to sign them:

an agreement to trade them to contenders before the deadline for pieces that will help the re-build.

Vet gets, yes, a less demanding regular season, possibly a bit of an over-payment, and still a chance to play for Cup, Canucks get potential for a greater peak concentration of talent, and Canucks' trade partner gets an expensive player at a reduced partial-season cap hit.

I don't understand why it doesn't happen more often.

[donlever]

Because aging vets have families and they don't want to move around, take kids out of school or leave kids and wives behind would be one reason off the top of my head.