14-05-2025
Canucks free-agent targets: 10 top-six wingers who could help Vancouver score
The Vancouver Canucks need to boost their options down the centre of their forward ranks, but they also need significant scoring help on the wings. It's a pressing need, one that could hit emergency levels in the likely event that both Brock Boeser and Pius Suter depart as unrestricted free agents this summer.
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Unfortunately for Vancouver, the unrestricted free-agent class is relatively thin up front this summer. If it's slim pickings for centremen, and we profiled eight possible free agent targets at centre ice Tuesday, it's arguably even leaner on the wings. It's so lean, in fact, that the Canucks are far more likely to look to the trade market to address their deficit of scoring touch on the wings than they are to pursue some of the top options in unrestricted free agency.
Nonetheless, let's look at 10 of the best pending unrestricted free agent options that will be available to Vancouver on July 1.
Mitch Marner is a known quantity and a superstar contributor.
Yes, Marner is also the target of more criticism than just about any other elite player in the NHL. Make no mistake though, Marner's resume as an elite producer and play driver with unique playmaking and defensive value is largely unassailable.
The 28-year-old winger is coming off of the first 100-point season of his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but has crested the 90-point milestone three times in his career.
Beyond his consistent star-level production, playmaking value and creativity off the rush, however, Marner is also one of the NHL's most impactful penalty killing forwards and is a sturdy option in matchup minutes at five-on-five. He's one of those rare players in the league capable of almost single-handedly creating an environment where his team is more likely to score the next goal than their opponents.
The knocks against Marner are well known and mostly apply to his Stanley Cup playoff performances. Admittedly, Marner has yet to break through and carry his team in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He made an exceptional play to set up Connor McDavid's game-winning goal in the Four Nations Final and has 12 points in 10 games on Toronto's current Stanley Cup playoff run, so perhaps he's in the process of shedding that reputation.
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Fair or not, until Marner leads his team on a run deep into late May and early June, those questions — and the criticism — will persist.
Any doubts about Marner's ability to elevate his game in the postseason shouldn't linger too significantly in the minds of Canucks brass, or that of any other hockey operations group, in calibrating a pitch to Marner should he make it to July 1. Whenever any NHL team has an opportunity to add a player of Marner's quality to their lineup, you do it and ask questions later, even if the cost gets a bit silly, as it surely will, if Marner hits the open market.
When targeting high-end forwards this summer, it's critical that the Canucks identify players who wouldn't just be complementary or supporting members of a top-six. Vancouver needs a forward or two who can drive a line and manufacture offence without relying on a playmaker to set them up. This is where Nikolaj Ehlers offers a tantalizing offensive skill set.
The 29-year-old left winger is incredibly fast, skilled and creative. He's a dynamic puck transporter capable of driving dangerous zone entries and creating rush scoring chances at will. Ehlers can flat-out break games wide open with his pace and finesse.
Ehlers has consistently produced in the 25-goal, 60-65 point range, but his underutilization in Winnipeg has suppressed his production. He ranks 15th best among all NHL players for five-on-five points produced per hour over the last three seasons, yet he's inexplicably averaged less than 16 minutes per game in each of those years. Ehlers only averaged 18 minutes per game for one season in his career, which was 2021-22, when he exploded for 28 goals and 55 points in 62 games (a 72-point pace).
In other words, deploy Ehlers like the bona fide first-line calibre player he is, and there's a good chance you're looking at a 30-goal, 70-point player who can drive play on his own.
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The two concerns surrounding Ehlers are his durability and his mediocre playoff track record. However, he checks every other box and would be a slam-dunk fit for the Canucks.
Kyle Palmieri is a high-quality professional goal scorer.
The veteran 34-year-old winger with the New York Islanders has eclipsed the 24-goal milestone in seven of the past 10 seasons, surpassing 30 total goals in two of those seven campaigns.
A right-handed shooter, Palmieri is the sort of savvy attacking presence capable of holding down a left flanker spot on the first power-play unit and capitalizing on the opportunities that come his way. That could be important for a Canucks team that may have to be thoughtful about offsetting the expected loss of Boeser's presence this summer.
Palmieri isn't a perfect fit — he doesn't have the speed that the Canucks need, and isn't the most dynamic rush attacker — and anyway, as an American-born player without a Stanley Cup, Palmieri may prefer to remain south of the border and sign with a team that has a more straightforward path to contending. He's still a clever, productive scoring winger, however, and despite posting one of his least effective defensive seasons this past campaign, his game has held up pretty well despite his advancing age.
It's far more likely than not that Jamie Benn, who's been captain of the Stars for over a decade, will sign an extension to finish out his career in Dallas. Could the Stars' looming salary cap crunch complicate that, though?
According to PuckPedia, Dallas already has $89.2 million worth of salary commitments for next season, with eight forwards, five defensemen and two goaltenders signed. That only leaves the Stars with about $6.3 million of cap flexibility to add five forwards and two defensemen to reach 22 players on their NHL roster. Dallas could try to move money out, such as Matt Dumba's $3.25 million contract, to carve out some wiggle room. But even if they do, would retaining fellow pending free-agent Matt Duchene, who scored 82 points centring the Stars' vaunted second line, be a higher priority than Benn?
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We've seen legacy players like Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault unexpectedly change sweaters recently, so while Benn becoming a cap casualty is unlikely, it isn't impossible.
Benn isn't the 70-80 point player he used to be, but he can still contribute as a supporting top-six player. It's tempting to look at the 49 points he scored this season and assume he's on a steep decline, but that drop-off isn't as concerning as you might think. Benn doesn't get first-unit power-play time in Dallas, and his man-advantage scoring was hindered by an unlucky 3.6 percent shooting clip. He still scored 2.43 points per 60 at five-on-five this season, which ranked 13th best among all NHL wingers.
The 35-year-old Victoria, BC, native has the imposing size and physicality that the Canucks' top-six forward group currently lacks. He's lost some speed but still has deft hands and skill down low in the offensive zone. It should also go without saying that his leadership would have a significant intangible impact on a Canucks locker room that's trying to rebuild its culture.
A versatile 36-year-old winger capable of playing on either wing and in several different slots on the power play, Evgenii Dadonov is an aging, but still sharp, depth-scoring winger with some defensive holes in his game. Despite the two-way flaws, however, Dadonov is a skilled complementary offensive piece and can help a good team win (and score) in a second- or third-line role with some added power-play utility.
Dadonov has retained the required quickness to challenge defenders off the rush, despite his age. And he's managed to remain relatively productive despite being slotted further down the Stars' lineup, and on the second power-play unit, recording 20 goals and 40 points this past season with only seven of those points being produced with the man advantage.
While Dadonov is more like a fringe second-line rate scorer at this stage of his career, on another team willing to use Dadonov in the bumper or at the net front on the power play, his production could spike.
If the term and treasure on his next contract are relatively modest, Dadonov has the high-level hockey IQ to be a useful offensive caddy for a more dynamic, puck-carrying centre. Given his offensive intelligence, he would seem like a decent fit for Elias Pettersson or Filip Chytil at the right price.
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Marcus Johansson represents more of a bargain depth scoring option than an established top-six solution.
Despite his advanced age, the 34-year-old Swedish left winger is still a remarkably quick skater. He can reliably chip in with 30-40 points and is a relatively low-maintenance middle-six contributor coming off an affordable $2 million cap hit. Johansson is a pass-first creator with plenty of experience meshing with skilled players throughout his career.
There are a couple of knocks on Johansson. First, he can look quiet for long stretches because he doesn't find ways to impact the game when he isn't scoring points. Second, he probably should have produced a bit more during his last two seasons in Minnesota, where he was given a fair amount of second-line opportunity. In Johansson's defence, he didn't have the most talented running mates to play with — Frédérick Gaudreau and Ryan Hartman were his most common five-on-five linemates this season — but he also doesn't do enough individually to manufacture offence at a true top-six level.
At the right price, however, Johansson would bolster a team's depth scoring.
Hailing from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden — the hockey hotbed that produced Markus Näslund and Henrik and Daniel Sedin — Victor Olofsson, 29, had a successful contract year as part of the Vegas Golden Knights' effort to moneyball their offensive wingers. He's stepped up especially in the postseason, authoring a key performance to help the Golden Knights force overtime against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series.
Olofsson is a skilled shooter with an inconsistent motor, but he has good defensive instincts and the sort of hockey IQ required to find quiet ice as a finisher. That said, Olofsson lacks the skating speed to be a dynamic rush threat of the variety that Vancouver requires.
Still in his late 20s, however, with the sort of skill that Vancouver is thirsty for on the wings, Olofsson is a decent lower-end target for the Canucks to consider this summer.
Mangiapane could be an enticing buy-low candidate. Sure, he isn't going to be the 35-goal scorer he was for the Calgary Flames in 2021-22, but he proved he can be a valuable middle-six winger over the last several seasons.
The scrappy but diminutive left-winger is coming off a modest 14-goal, 28-point season with the Washington Capitals, but that dip was almost certainly opportunity-related. Mangiapane averaged just 13:02 and sometimes played on the fourth line for a deep Capitals team. He should bounce back as a 40-45 point middle-six player with a bigger role. And best of all, he's a legitimately strong play-driver with stout defensive results because of his dogged compete level and forechecking.
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The only problem for the Canucks is that Mangiapane's makeup—a 5-foot-10, max-energy battler who can drive play and score in the middle six—is a bit redundant with Conor Garland and Nils Höglander already on the roster.
Although Jeff Skinner has found himself a regular healthy scratch for the Oilers in the Stanley Cup playoffs, his stint as a post-buyout player in Edmonton had its moments. Skinner remains a relatively dynamic driver of shots and offensive opportunities, even as his skating speed has atrophied significantly with age.
We'd be remiss, however, if we didn't include him as a consideration. Skinner, after all, ranks among the top-30 NHL forwards in five-on-five points rate across the last three seasons and was originally drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes during Jim Rutherford's stint as general manager. Given how sorely the Canucks need some offensive pop, we can't ignore an option as productive as Skinner has typically managed to be at five-on-five, especially given his familiarity for Vancouver's top hockey operations decision maker.
Justin Danforth is an easy player to root for.
The 32-year-old right winger was undrafted and overlooked for years because of his 5-foot-8 stature. He had to put up crooked offensive numbers in the KHL before even getting a sniff at the NHL in his late 20s with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Danforth is ultra-reliable, brings a ton of energy and has chipped in with even-strength points at around a third-line calibre level.
He shouldn't be a top-six player on a good team, but he has some legitimate utility further down the lineup and would arrive at a bargain bin price.
(Top photo of Mitch Marner: John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)
