11 most expensive free agent mistakes in Canucks history
July 28 will be a day that forever lives in infamy in Vancouver Canucks history.
That’s the day Mark Messier signed with the team in 1997. The former New York Rangers captain signed the richest deal in Canucks history, when converted into today’s dollars.
What ensued was chaos.
More on that a little bit later.
As you’ll see below, the Messier contract isn’t the only free agent mistake the Canucks have made.
Context matters as we analyze this, which is why you won’t find Mats Sundin on this list. The Canucks paid Sundin over $5.6 million to play just half a season in 2008-09. While he was clearly past his prime, scoring just 28 points (9-19-28) in 41 games, Sundin was a force in the playoffs with eight points (3-5-8) in eight games. He also played a key leadership role for a young Canucks team that was just beginning to take off. And even more important? The Canucks had lots of cap space, and Sundin was off the books at the end of the season.
Another thing we’ll keep in mind is the salary cap. The upper limit of the cap was $39 million in 2005-06, which is less than half of the NHL’s current $83.5 million cap.
Let’s begin.
11. Mathieu Schneider (2009)
Contract: 1 x $1.55 million
Percentage of salary cap: 2.73%
Mathieu Schneider had a marvellous 1,289-game NHL career, scoring 743 points. But the defenceman was in the twilight of his career when Mike Gillis signed him to a one-year contract in 2009 at the age of 40.
Schneider’s stint with the Canucks included 17 games, complaints about lack of ice time, and a demotion to the AHL before being traded to the Phoenix Coyotes before the 2009-10 season was done.
10. Michael Del Zotto (2017)
Contract: 2 x $3 million
Percentage of salary cap: 4%
Two years at $3 million per season was a lot to spend on Michael Del Zotto, who was a depth defenceman pushed into a top-four role for a terrible Canucks team in 2017-18. It was one of two mistakes the Canucks management duo of Trevor Linden and Jim Benning made on July 1, 2017.
The other was Sam Gagner.
9. Sam Gagner (2017)
Contract: 3 x $3.15 million
Percentage of salary cap: 4.2%
Gagner has played over 1,000 NHL games, but the Canucks bought into the hype at the worst possible time. Coming off a career-high 50-point season with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Canucks signed Gagner to a three-year, $3.15 million contract. He was in the AHL the following season before being traded for Ryan Spooner, who they promptly bought out.
8. Marc Chouinard (2006)
Contract: 2 x $1.1 million
Percentage of salary cap: 2.5%
On the surface, Marc Chouinard’s $1.1 million contract doesn’t seem too costly at all.
But when you consider the checking centre was signed in 2006, when the salary cap was only $44 million, it was an expensive mistake made by former GM Dave Nonis.
Chouinard scored four points (2-2-4) in 42 games for the Canucks, and was sent to the AHL before the season was done. He was bought out of the second year of his contract and never signed another NHL deal.
7. Jason Garrison (2012)
Contract: 6 x $4.6 million
Percentage of salary cap: 7.67%
White Rock native Jason Garrison had a booming shot and was coming off a 16-goal campaign when the Canucks signed him in 2012. They got a couple of decent years out of him, but he wasn’t worth six years and $27.6 million.
Benning traded Garrison before it was too late, as he produced just 21 points in the last three years of his contract, and was an AHL player by the end of the deal.
6. Antoine Roussel (2018)
Contract: 4 x $3 million
Percentage of salary cap: 3.77%
Antoine Roussel and Jay Beagle signed matching four-year, $12 million contracts on July 1, 2018.
The Canucks got one really good year out of Roussel, as the gritty winger produced 31 points (9-22-31) in 65 games in 2018-19. Injuries and age slowed him after that, limiting him to 13 points (7-6-13) in 41 games in 2019-20. Roussel had just one goal and four points in 35 games in 2020-21, before being offloaded to Arizona in a salary dump with Beagle and Loui Eriksson.
5. Jay Beagle (2018)
Contract: 4 x $3 million
Percentage of salary cap: 3.77%
A Stanley Cup champion, Beagle brought leadership, faceoff prowess, and penalty-kill know-how to the Canucks. But he only brought six goals in three seasons.
4. Braden Holtby (2020)
Contract: 2 x $4.3 million
Percentage of salary cap: 5.28%
In an offseason that saw the Canucks lose Tyler Toffoli and Chris Tanev because they didn’t have enough cap space, Benning decided to sign Braden Holtby to a two-year, $8.6 million contract.
Holtby played just 21 games for the Canucks in 2020-21, had a woeful .889 save percentage, and was subsequently bought out of the second year of his contract. He counted $500,000 on the Canucks’ cap in 2021-22 and $1.9 million in 2022-23.
3. Tyler Myers (2019)
Contract: 5 x $6 million
Percentage of salary cap: 7.36%
Tyler Myers has played big minutes for the Canucks since they signed him in 2019, and you could argue that he was a legitimate top-four defenceman at the beginning of his time in Vancouver. But after scoring just a single goal in each of the last two years, you can’t make that claim anymore.
Myers brings size, leadership, and some puck-moving ability, but he was never worth $30 million.
Making matters worse is that the Canucks have been in a cap crunch throughout Myers’ time in Vancouver, which is something you can’t say about the Del Zotto and Gagner deals listed above.
2. Loui Eriksson (2016)
Contract: 6 x $6 million
Percentage of salary cap: 8.22%
Eriksson was a 30-goal scorer with the Boston Bruins when the Canucks signed him in 2016. He scored 32 goals in three seasons in Vancouver.
The Eriksson contract wasn’t costly at first, given the Canucks had cap space as a rebuilding team. But when the Canucks were ready to win, Eriksson’s $6 million cap hit weighed them down.
1. Mark Messier (1997)
Contract: 3 x $6 million + $2 million
Percentage of salary cap: N/A
The most famous free agent mistake in Canucks history was also the most costly.
The only saving grace for the Messier signing was that it didn’t happen during the salary cap era. It likely made ownership hesitant to spend in the future though, given the future Hall of Famer made $20 million ($6 million per season, plus a $2 million buyout) over three seasons with the team.
In today’s dollars, that’s $34.7 million.
Instead of whipping the team into shape as the so-called greatest leader in pro sports, the Canucks had three of the most tumultuous seasons in franchise history with Messier wearing the C.
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