The Vancouver Canucks are paying Oliver Ekman-Larsson a hefty sum to join another team.Vancouver plans to buy out the highly paid defenseman, his agent Kevin Epp told CHEK's Rick Dhaliwal. Ekman-Larsson will become an unrestricted free agent as a result.The veteran blue-liner has four years remaining on the eight-year pact he signed with the Arizona Coyotes on July 1, 2018. It carried an $8.25-million cap hit before the buyout. The Canucks will now pay him nearly $20 million over the next eight years.
Massive buyout for Oliver Ekman-Larsson sprinkled over the next 8 years. The #Canucks are paying him $19.5 million in real cash to go away, per @CapFriendly. pic.twitter.com/zSwNBPHLPh— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 16, 2023
The Canucks acquired Ekman-Larsson and forward Conor Garland in a July 2021 trade with the Coyotes. Vancouver sent Arizona three draft picks, including a first-rounder that become Dylan Guenther, plus forwards Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel.
Does this mean they’re finally committing to the rebuild?
Imagine if they get 1OA the year after bedard and it’s a bust.
This could mean the opposite. This gives them more money to spend now, and one less unreliable D.
They are probably going to do the Canucks thing where they sign or trade for some other low impact player.
I don’t think so. It feels like they want a quick two season type of rebuild to make some playoff money. The way they ended last season and traded a number one showed that.
No they aren’t rebuilding, they are trying to become playoff/cup run ready as soon as possible. That’s why they dumped OEL and are signing on reclamation projects like Bear
Sounds extremely Canucks tbf
I’ll believe it when I see it, they should have rebuilt like 5 years ago. Being mediocre isn’t helping anybody
I doubt it. Every time a Canucks rebuild is brought up it’s also mentioned that ownership has no interest in a rebuild. I think I remember Friedman saying that they are concerned that attendance would dip pretty hard during a rebuild