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It's in large part for his leadership and to help change the culture in Nashville.

Another one of those "winners" Trotz said he wanted to add to help their culture.

Trotz said he wanted to bring in some winners to help their culture.

OEL became a UFA the day Vancouver bought him out. He was no longer attached to any team and was free to discuss with every other team that same day. Not the same situation as someone like Burroughs who was an upcoming UFA. Vancouver still held his rights till 30 June and were still trying to sign him. He is not allowed to talk to any other team unless he gets permission from Vancouver. Some teams give permission earlier - likely the case with Talbot because Dorion had already announced back in April that he wasn't going to bring him back.

He was no longer attached to any team and could talk to every team as soon as he was bought as confirmed by his agent:

Teams can decide whatever they want. They held his rights till 30 June but some teams just let players already explore options earlier. GMs understand that players need a new team and allow them to find a new job when they've decided to part ways. It's less likely that they give permission if they are trying to sign the player or think there's a lot of interest on the market where they could trade his rights.

He was probably given permission to talk to other teams earlier. Dorion had already announced in April that he wasn't going to bring him back. Explained that they wanted him back on a 1-year deal but he wanted term so they decided to part ways. Teams can give the permission to upcoming UFAs to talk to other teams before free agency.

OEL was no longer a Canuck the day they bought him out - he was allowed to talk to any team already that day.

Doesn't apply to him because he was no longer attached to any team.

OEL became UFA the day Vancouver bought him out.

They've most certainly been trying to get a deal done ever since the end of the season given the QO deadline. No deal signed is a strong indication that there's still a wide gap - and that it could get even wider should they hit arbitration. Risk is being forced to move other players to fit that arbitration award.

They probably don't want to risk the arbitration award.

He didn't get qualified because he is arbitration eligible and they are worried that it could lead to an overpay if they end up in arbitration. Quite a few teams in that situation. Wild would have brought back Steel for example but with such limited cap space they couldn't risk the arbitration award. Teams can't walk away if the award is below ~4.5M.

Vancouver won't have trouble being cap compliant. Free agency opens up tomorrow and they haven't been able to create more room so the prudent approach would be to not spend money they don't have. They have 8.9M and a roster of 19 per CapFriendly with Poolman on LTIR but Pearson healthy. Allvin says Pearson is working towards being ready for camp. Even if he misses the start of the season there's a chance he comes back so they would need to keep his cap space open unless he can definitely be ruled out for the full season. There hasn't been an update on Poolman. If he's healthy that would drop their cap space by 2.5M to 6.4M but then a roster of 20, unless he gets demoted to the AHL so roster of 19 and 7.8M in cap space. CapFriendly counts Dries, Studnicka and DiGiuseppe on the NHL roster - they are on league minimum deals and could be swapped for upgrades.

He's waiver free for another 41 games. He's in the Höglander situation where he could become waiver eligible in season because of games played. Last year they elected to demote Höglander before he hit his game limit. Vancouver will probably be operating in LTIR with Poolman. Podkolzin has to be on the opening night roster to create the bonus pool to be able to recall him from the AHL. They would need to waive someone and risk losing him so that Podkolzin can be opening night roster. They can swap straight after. --- The more technical explanation: In LTIR the performance bonus is part of the recall cap hit. So to bring him back up they need 1.775M in cap space vs 925K if they could avoid LTIR. If a bonus eligible player starts the season on the NHL roster, his demotion creates a bonus pool which then covers the bonus portion of the recall. If he is demoted before the opening night roster there's no bonus pool created so it becomes problematic to bring him back up. Podkolzin starts the season on the NHL roster - a 850K bonus pool is created when he gets demoted. So when he comes back up the bonus portion of the 1.775M is covered by that 850K bonus pool and they only need 925K in LTIR cap space to bring him up. If he isn't on the NHL roster on opening night there's no bonus pool created so the full 1.775M has to come from LTIR cap space.

Nashville's dead cap: 2023/24 - 8.8M 2024/25 - 11.8M 2025/26 - 8.8M 2026/27 - 3.55M 2027/28 - 3.55M 2028/29 - 1.55M

There are small players that excel in the post-season - Kane and Marchessault also won the Conn Smythe. They made the playoffs with their team and showed they could perform. Not Garland's fault but there's no read on whether he can overcome his lack of size in the post-season. Teams might simply not want to make that bet with 3 years left at 5M when cap space is so scarce.

I don't expect it. He doesn't really have a playoff profile and few teams project to miss the playoffs for 3 years. Some teams seem to realise that it's not particularly efficient to be a good regular season team only to struggle in the post-season because not built for it. Teams like Minnesota, LA were talking about playing playoff hockey all season. Been wondering if there won't be a shift on how teams build their rosters with a bit more focus on bringing in players with playoff profiles. It's more size, speed, physicality, directness which is not really Garland.

The 1st window has already closed today. The Canucks don't have a 2nd window. That 2nd window only opens up to teams that have arbitration filings. Hirose and Höglander are not arbitration eligible. Kravstov has committed to the KHL so he's unlikely to file for an NHL contract. Pearson wouldn't have been eligible for the 2nd window - only contracts above ~4M are eligible in that 2nd window (don't have the exact number but his AAV is too low + can't buy out players that are injured).

Deadline to issue qualifying offers is today at 5pm ET - 2pm Pacific.

It's also players updating their no trade lists from last year. The Taylor Hall trade where he goes from a contender to Chicago probably got a few players to pay more attention on the teams they have on their no trade lists. Myers and his camp are probably well aware of all the noise surrounding a trade after his bonus is paid out and has now the opportunity to file an updated list.

To see how he gets used this coming season. The top-9 looks crowded on the wings. Boeser, Kuzmenko, Mikheyev, Podkolzin, Höglander, Joshua, Beauvillier, Garland + Pearson might be able to return.

Novak - Trotz mentioned him when talking about the Johansen trade. Tomasino plays mostly wing - even in the AHL.