The Canucks signed their first unrestricted free agent of the off-season on Friday, picking up 25-year-old defenceman Philip Holm from the Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League.
There’s a lot to like about the signing: the left-shooting Holm had a breakout season for the Lakers, going from 7 points in the previous season to 21 points in 52 games and a league-leading plus-24. He’s not pegged as an offensive defenceman, however, receiving little time on the power play. Instead, he’s described as “a mobile defensive defenceman who has a real good work ethic” and a “good skater, puck retriever, and puck mover,” according to Bob McKenzie.
It’s also encouraging that Holm had other suitors like the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs. As an added bonus, he won’t have to go through waivers if he’s assigned to the Utica Comets and doesn’t have to be protected for the expansion draft.
Holm is a man after Benning's own heart, or perhaps a bit lower: "I got a good feeling after talking to the coach and GM," he said to Rick Dhaliwal. "I went with my gut."
There are concerns, to be sure: his breakout season came as he turned 25 while playing along a younger, more highly-regarded defenceman in Calle Rosen, who signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs recently. There’s certainly a chance that the offence that caught the attention of NHL teams was the result of a good partner and some fortunate percentages. Defencemen that stay off the radar until they hit 25 rarely pan out.
All that said, there’s little harm to adding another potentially NHL-ready defenceman, though labeling him a “prospect” at the age of 25 is pushing it. Worst-case scenario, he replaces Tom Nilsson on the Comets.
The only real danger is edging too close to the 50-contract limit, but the Canucks have some restricted and unrestricted free agents that they’re unlikely to re-sign and players with whom they could cut ties by adding them to a trade.
Holm was also on the gold medal-winning Team Sweden for the World Hockey Championships, though he received limited ice time. Benning was in France for the tournament, but reportedly only watched games in Paris, while Sweden played their games in Cologne, so it’s unlikely that Benning saw him first hand.
Holm’s three points at the World Championships all came in one game, an 8-1 victory over Italy. Though he’s described as playing in seven games, he really only received ice time in two of them, both against lesser opponents Italy and Latvia. For his other games, he sat on the bench as the seventh defenceman.
Overall, I like the signing: his two-way, $925,000 contract is not going to hurt the cap and it’s worth taking a chance on a previously overlooked player. My one concern, however, is that the Canucks have some young prospects who could use ice time now.
With the emergence of Troy Stecher and Nikita Tryamkin last season, there was a rush to suddenly declare defence a position of strength for the Canucks, even as they gave up a massive number of shots against and consistently had trouble transitioning the puck up the ice.
The reality is that defence is and should be a major concern, particularly with Tryamkin choosing to return to the KHL. Olli Juolevi is the team’s highest drafted defenceman since Bryan Allen, but is the team’s only blue chip prospect on defence, so it’s unsurprising that Jim Benning has suggested the Canucks might again pick a defenceman in the first round.
But that’s the future: the Canucks have defensive depth issues in the present. For whatever reason, the Canucks were reticent to call up Andrey Pedan and Jordan Subban last season, instead depending on AHL veteran Alex Biega when there were injuries on defence.
Evan McEneny got into one game with the Canucks last season, and that was it for Canucks defensive prospects not named Stecher or Tryamkin. Recent free agent signings like Ashton Sautner and Chad Billins were never even close to a call-up.
Pedan, Subban, and McEneny will be joined this coming season by Guillaume Brisebois and Jalen Chatfield. That’s five young defencemen vying for ice time in Utica, along with Sautner and potentially other veteran AHL defencemen that the Canucks/Comets might sign this off-season.
There’s also the possibility that Juolevi makes the Canucks out of camp. Or that the Las Vegas Knights don’t take Luca Sbisa in the expansion draft. It’s possible that the Canucks defensive lineup, even though it’s not very good, will be very difficult to crack for guys like Pedan and Subban.
Now add in Holm. Will the Swedish blueliner get prime playing time in Utica ahead of the Canucks’ younger defencemen? Will he be the guy that gets called up instead of Pedan, Subban, or McEneny when there’s an injury? Are we destined to see a Holm-Biega third pairing at some point this season?
Maybe I worry too much. Maybe I’m getting cynical in my advanced age, seeing the downside in everything the Canucks do. Maybe the fact that he signed with the Canucks, despite their terribleness, makes me wonder what promises were made.
But on the other hand, maybe he just sees the potential of outplaying some of the Canucks' defensive depth to make the NHL sooner than he would with another team. Maybe his strong skating and defensive instincts will make the transition to the smaller NHL ice surface easier. Maybe Holm will be the Swedish Chris Tanev and transform the Canucks’ defensive corps into a puck-transitioning powerhouse.
That’s the problem with not making the playoffs: the long off-season gives you too much time to scrutinize minor moves.
