Canucks sign veteran defenseman to a three-year extension

Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin continues his slew of moves over the past 24 hours. He’s gotten another one of his pending UFAs locked in, now signing defenseman Tyler Myers to a three-year extension worth $9M ($3M cap hit). The deal breaks down as follows, per TSN’s Darren Dreger:

2024-25: $3.8M base salary, no-move clause

2025-26: $2.9M base salary, no-move clause

2026-27: $2.3M base salary, 12-team no-trade list

It’s the third player slated to hit the open market this summer that Vancouver has retained thus far. They’ve also re-upped center Teddy Blueger (two years, $1.8M AAV) and Dakota Joshua (four years, $3.25M AAV) to continue boasting solid scoring depth among their bottom six forwards.

Under this deal, Myers will return for his sixth, seventh and eighth seasons in Vancouver. The 34-year-old Texas native joined the Canucks in free agency five years ago, inking a deal that was criticized at the time for its $6M cap hit. His extension represents a pay cut of 50%, but it’s about what his market value would have likely been if he became a free agent next week.

He’s likely best used as a bottom-pairing anchor at this stage of his career. That’s where first-year head coach Rick Tocchet deployed him this season, yielding arguably the best results Myers has put up in a Canucks jersey.

The veteran put up 29 points in 77 games, his highest point total since his final season with the Jets in 2018-19, and posted a career-high +16 rating with slightly improved possession metrics in more defense-oriented usage. Correspondingly, it was the first time in his 15-year career that he’d averaged under 20 minutes per game.

Whether Myers will still be worth his new cap hit in the final year of his deal, during which he’ll be turning 37, is a fair question to ask. But with the salary cap expected to jump significant amounts each season as the league is in a strong post-COVID financial state, it shouldn’t be too much of a drag as Allvin continues to try and build out a Cup-contending roster in British Columbia.

Since being selected 12th overall by the Sabres in 2008, the hulking 6’8″ defender has 93 goals, 278 assists, 371 points and a +9 rating in 995 career games. Assuming there’s no freak offseason or early-campaign injuries, he’ll become the 395th (or 396th, looking at Luke Schenn) skater in NHL history to hit 1,000 games played.

After this deal, the Nucks have just over $12M in projected cap space for next season, per CapFriendly. They have four roster spots to fill, notably those of pending UFAs Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.

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