Should the Canucks be interested in bringing Myers back on new contract?
The Vancouver Canucks have an upcoming decision to make about right-handed defenceman Tyler Myers.
The 6-foot-8 player’s contract is up at the end of this season, and the Canucks will need to decide if they’re going to pursue an extension or not.
CHEK Media’s Rick Dhaliwal reported today that Myers “absolutely loves the city” and “100% he doesn’t want to go anywhere.” This suggests that if the Canucks are willing to play ball, there’s a deal to be made here.
Myers has been a constant target for critics over the course of his five years in Vancouver due to his tendency to make glaring errors on the ice.
However, over the past few weeks, Myers has been playing some solid hockey and getting recognized for it. Head coach Rick Tocchet recently called him “one of our best players” over that stretch.
It’s been a stark change in fortune for Myers compared to the start of the season when he was demoted from the lineup and had his ice time severely restricted.
Whether it’s the influence of the new coaching staff, the better structure throughout the entire team, or the smaller role, Myers has taken his game to a new level. It remains to be seen if he can sustain this standard of play, but it does lend optimism that he could be a viable option as the third-pairing right-handed defenceman next season.
Of course, the big question will be how much money Myers is looking for on his new contract this summer. His current $6 million cap hit has been a hot topic of conversation throughout his Canucks tenure, and it’s certain that he will be taking a major pay cut.
If Myers is willing to accept a short-term deal of around $2-3 million, is that something worth taking for the Canucks? The team will need to make savvy use of its projected $32 million in cap space this summer as Filip Hronek and Elias Pettersson also need new deals.