The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they’ve re-signed Adam Gaudette to a new one-year contract worth $950,000.
Gaudette was one of two remaining restricted free agents on the team, but unlike Jake Virtanen, he didn’t have arbitration rights this offseason. That gave the 24-year-old very little bargaining power, despite scoring 33 points (12-21-33) in 59 games for the Canucks last season.
“Adam has been an excellent young player for us and we are happy to have him continue his progress for another year in Vancouver,” said GM Jim Benning. “We look forward to his intensity and compete level continuing to be a great source of energy for our team.”
This is the second signing of the day for the Canucks, who also inked unrestricted free agent forward Jayce Hawryluk.
Gaudette’s contract will help the Canucks’ cap situation, albeit only for one year. Should the Braintree, Massachusetts product have a breakout season, he could be in line for a big raise in 2021.
The Canucks will cross that bridge when they come to it though. For now, Gaudette represents value on their roster as they try to shoehorn everyone in under a flat salary cap.
Gaudette established himself as Vancouver’s third-line centre last season but was a healthy scratch for seven postseason games when Travis Green played veteran centre Brandon Sutter in his spot.
Assuming the Canucks re-sign Virtanen, they’ll have 16 forwards fighting for 14 spots, including Hawryluk, who is on a two-way contract. That doesn’t include young players like Nils Hoglander and Kole Lind, who could conceivably make a push for a spot as well.
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