There were an awful lot of rumours out there about the
Vancouver Canucks this offseason, and not all that many of them ended up coming to fruition.
The Canucks kept their first-round pick instead of trading it. They definitely didn’t trade it for
Marco Rossi, either.
The Canucks were said to be in on a number of UFAs. Instead, they just re-signed one of their own in
Brock Boeser.
No one saw the
Evander Kane trade coming, and yet it did.
So, this summer’s round of rumours can probably be taken – as all rumours probably should be – with a heaping dose of salt.
But there was one bit of speculation that was so prominent and persistent, there almost had to be at least some smoke to it. And that was the ongoing rumour about Bowen Byram, and how badly he wished to return to his hometown of Vancouver. (Well, Cranbrook, technically, but they don’t have an NHL team there yet.)
We wrote about these rumours back in June and deemed that they didn’t make much sense at the present moment. Byram, for all his talents, is a left-shooting defender, and the Canucks are already set on those heading into the 2025/26 season with Quinn Hughes, Marcus Pettersson, Elias Pettersson, and Derek Forbort all under contract.
But the scuttlebutt continued, all the same, right up until this past week, when
Byram and the Sabres avoided arbitration with a two-year, $6.25 million AAV extension.
But are those rumours over and done with, or have they just been put on pause?
See, by signing a two-year extension, what Byram has effectively done is walked himself right to UFA status at the youngest possible age of 26. When this new two-year deal expires, he’ll be free to market himself to the rest of the league, or to whichever specific corners of the league he prefers.
Most Buffalo fans have already made peace with the fact that they’ll likely need to trade him before that date comes, because otherwise he’s set himself up to walk for nothing.
And in two years’ time, maybe Byram makes more sense for the Canucks to pursue, or to be pursued by. We won’t delve into the reasons why that might be, as they’re a bit depressing, but there you have it.
For the Canucks’ part,
GM Patrik Allvin and Co. have made a bit of a transition toward a preference for players who want to be in Vancouver. That was a big part of deciding to retain Boeser and offer extensions to
Conor Garland and
Thatcher Demko on that same day. It was a big part of the decision to bring in Kane.
With that in mind, we wonder which other prominent upcoming UFAs and RFAs have some concrete British Columbian connections that might be considered in the offseasons to come. Below, we’ve collected a few of note.
Bowen Byram, Buffalo Sabres
LD, 24, 6’1”, 205lb
UFA in 2027
| Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
2024/25 | 82 | 7 | 31 | 38 |
We can’t talk this much about Byram without at least giving him a little write-up of his own.
He’s one of those players who you can’t believe is still this young, because it feels like he’s been around forever. Byram will enter his sixth NHL season in 2025/26, and in his career thus far, he has already won a Stanley Cup.
The former fourth overall selection has also continued to develop his skills to the point that he’s now an exceptionally talented offensive defender who has also started to drastically improve in his own end. He made pretty good hay with Rasmus Dahlin on the Sabres’ top pairing for much of the past year, and one has to wonder what greater heights might be possible for him outside of that organization.
For the Canucks’ part, as we said earlier, they don’t currently have much need for any additional LD, even one as good as Byram. But in two years’ time, things could look very different indeed. And if they do, the thought of having a strong two-day D in their prime who is specifically looking to sign in Vancouver might be mighty appealing.
Alexander Kerfoot, Utah Mammoth
C, 30, 5’11”, 185lb
UFA in 2026
| Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
2024/25 | 81 | 11 | 17 | 28 |
We realize we’re taking a major step back in excitability here, but that’s okay. In the end, there just aren’t that many BC-related players in the NHL right now, and the bulk of them are locked up for the foreseeable future.
Kerfoot’s is a name that has been attached to the Canucks before, but never with much sincerity. He remains a useful middle-six talent who can play all three forward positions and is usually good for between 30-40 points per year.
As of now, the Canucks’ forward corps is a little overstuffed. But that could change over the coming year, and if the Canucks find themselves in need of cheap depth next summer, they could certainly do worse than a versatile veteran who can still skate and who hails from Vancouver.
Alex Tuch, Buffalo Sabres
RW, 29, 6’4”, 219lb
UFA in 2026
| Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
2024/25 | 82 | 36 | 31 | 67 |
Okay, now you’ll really have to bear with us on this one.
If Tuch makes it to UFA status, he’ll easily be one of the best on the market in the summer of 2026. And given that Tuch is a Buffalo Sabre and has yet to sign an extension, chances seem good he’ll make it to market. That’s just the way it seems to go for the Sabres.
Now, on the surface, Tuch has no real connection to Vancouver. He’s from Syracuse, New York, and is pretty much already as close to home as he can get.
However, if you pay attention to the rumours surrounding Tuch’s future, they tend to suggest that his wife is from the Vancouver area, and there have been loud whispers about the couple’s desire to eventually return there. Is that coming from people in the know, or is it just a case of wishful thinking? Impossible to know, but if it’s even close to true, this would be an incredibly exciting player for the Canucks to pursue next offseason.
Tuch is a genuine power forward still in his prime, who has scored 36 goals in two of his past three seasons. When a player is that good, the fit doesn’t matter. If he wants to come to Vancouver, they’ll make the room.
Brendan Gallagher, Montreal Canadiens
RW, 33, 5’9”, 185lb
UFA in 2027
| Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
2024/25 | 82 | 21 | 17 | 38 |
Gallagher is a player who, really, always should have been a Canuck.
Though born in Edmonton, Gallagher spent most of his growing up in Tsawwassen, and did all of his developing in the GVA, right up to and including four seasons with the Vancouver Giants.
The Canucks somehow missed Gallagher coming out of their own backyard and allowed the Montreal Canadiens to scoop him up with the 147th overall selection in the 2010 Entry Draft.
What has followed is a brilliant 13-year career with the Habs that has featured more ups than downs for Gallagher. He’s still popping in 20 goals and agitating with the best of them at the age of 33, and one has to imagine that the fiery competitor still has a few good seasons left in him.
He wouldn’t be a premier free agent at the age of 35, nor is he someone the Canucks should hang any real hopes on. But if Gallagher and the Canadiens part ways, a homecoming to end his career might be nice, and it’s hard to imagine him not at least contributing on the fourth line.
Jared McCann, Seattle Kraken
C/LW, 29, 6’1”, 191lb
UFA in 2027
| Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
2024/25 | 82 | 22 | 39 | 61 |
Like with Tuch, we’re stretching here. McCann’s from Ontario, and he already (technically) had some time in the Toronto organization.
However, there is an intriguing opportunity here for both the player and the club to seek a little redemption. For their part, the Canucks could finally get some value for a player they carelessly dumped far too early. For his part, maybe McCann wants to take a shot at making a positive difference for the team that drafted him.
Or, maybe not. Either way, if the Canucks haven’t solved their search for a 2C in two summers’ time – and if neither Aatu Räty nor Braeden Cootes have stepped in yet – McCann would make an excellent fill-in target at the age of 31.
Really, this is more about storyline than anything, but one can’t deny that McCann remains a useful and versatile top-six talent.
Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning
Forgive the lack of stats here. We don’t write about coaches very often.
But we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that Prince George’s finest, coach Jon Cooper, is set to become a free agent as of this next summer.
In place since 2013, Cooper is by far the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL. And he’s been a good one, with a regular season record of 572-306-83 and a playoff record of 88-67, with two Stanley Cups to show for it.
But the Lightning have also exited the playoffs in the first round in three straight seasons. Eventually, even the best coaches get let go, and the summer of 2026 may make for a natural breaking-off point between him and Tampa Bay.
We don’t know yet how Adam Foote’s first season as head coach will go. But if it doesn’t go all that well, and if Cooper does wind up being available, it’s going to be very, very tempting for the Canucks to make a homecoming pitch.
Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks
C, 19, 5’10”, 185lb
RFA in 2026
| Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
2024/25 | 82 | 23 | 44 | 67 |
Now here’s the name you’ve all been waiting for.
Yes, Bedard is a free agent next summer. No, he’s not a UFA, and the Blackhawks will retain his rights as an RFA.
But, with three NHL seasons under his belt at that point, Bedard will be eligible for offer sheets. The odds of Chicago letting Bedard go for any offer sheet-related compensation are low. But if the Canucks wanted to be really sneaky, they could offer Bedard a high-priced, four-year offer sheet.
Such a contract would walk Bedard right to UFA status. So, the Blackhawks would be forced to match – and then watch Bedard walk for nothing in four seasons, presumably to Vancouver – or try their best to get fair value for him in the interim.
If Bedard really wants to come home as early as possible, this strikes us as the best possible route. Is it a likely one? With the rarity of offer sheets, and especially offer sheets this aggressive, the answer is probably ‘no.’ But that doesn’t change the excitement factor on the idea, in general.
Kent Johnson, Columbus Blue Jackets
C, 22, 6’0”, 180lb
RFA in 2027
| Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
2024/25 | 68 | 24 | 33 | 57 |
Much was made of Johnson accompanying Bedard to watch some Abbotsford Canucks action during the Calder Cup run. Hailing from Port Moody, Johnson will have to wait a little bit longer than Bedard to hit RFA status, as of the summer of 2027. But once he’s there, the offer sheet path becomes a little bit clearer.
He’ll already have completed his fifth NHL season at that point, which means he could pull a Byram and sign for exactly two years, walking himself to UFA status. Or, he could sign a two-year offer sheet and achieve the same thing.
In other words, if either Bedard or Johnson – or, ideally, both – want to engineer their way toward Vancouver, there are definitely ways.
And in these days of cutthroat competition for talent, the Canucks should probably consider anyone who might be as interested in Vancouver as Vancouver is in them.
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