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The Vancouver Canucks will be interested in reuniting with one of their former defensemen, who played for the Carolina Hurricanes in the past three seasons.
Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK discussed the potential interest of the Canucks in re-signing upcoming Hurricanes free agent Jalen Chatfield on the June 10 episode of the “Donnie & Dhali” show.
Dhaliwal highlighted Vancouver as one of the teams likely to pursue Chatfield if he hits the market on July 1. He noted, however, that Carolina is trying “hard” to re-sign the 28-year-old defenseman.
“A right-shot defenseman, he’s going to get a ton of interest on July 1, including from the Canucks,” Dhaliwal said. “Although Carolina is trying hard to try to re-sign him right now.”
Although Dhaliwal doesn’t know what will happen come July, he expects the Canucks–among other teams–to try and pry Chatfield away from Carolina if he enters the open market.
“Let’s see how it plays out, but I’m hearing that Carolina is trying very hard to re-sign him but if he gets to the market I’m told the Canucks will be one of the interested teams,” Dhaliwal said.
The Canucks signed Chatfield from the OHL in March 2017 after he went undrafted. He spent three years in Utica with the Comets and played 18 NHL games in 2020.
The Canucks let him go because he wasn’t a fit for head coach Travis Green then, per Dhaliwal, but they might entertain re-signing him ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Hurricanes’ Jalen Chatfield Breakout Season
Chatfield started his career with the Canucks, but he barely played for the organization at the NHL level. Chatfield signed with the Hurricanes before the 2021-22 season after an 18-game stint in Vancouver. He’s played three seasons in Carolina appearing in 16, 78, and 72 games.
The defenseman scored 8 goals and 14 assists in 72 games in 2024 for the Canes. He also added 2 points in 11 playoff games. Chatfield averaged 15:12 of ice time per game slotted in the third defensive pairing of the Canes, per Daily Faceoff.
Chatfield completed a three-year, $750,000 contract and will enter unrestricted free agency on July 1 unless he agrees to an extension.
AFP Analytics projects Chatfield to sign a four-year contract with an average annual value of $3.67 million following his 2024 breakout year.
PuckPedia projects the Canucks to have $25 million of cap space entering the offseason. Vancouver, however, needs to deal with many high-profile pending free agents first.
Update on Canucks’ Negotiations With Nikita Zadorov
The Canucks have just one right-handed defenseman, Noah Juulsen, signed for next season. Defensemen Tyler Myers, Ian Cole, Nikita Zadorov, Mark Friedman, and Filip Hronek will become free agents on July 1.
Dhaliwal discussed Zadorov’s negotiations with Vancouver on the same segment of the June 10 “Donnie & Dhali” show.
“I checked in on Zadorov last night–still told ‘very quiet, nothing over the weekend, no progress, no negotiating, no offers,'” Dhaliwal said.
The reporter referenced his conversation with Zadorov’s agent Dan Milstein on Thursday, June 6. He reminded listeners that Milstein “made it clear there’s nothing going on and it’s still quiet.”
Dhaliwal added that “Milstein was upset with some members of the media that said the two sides were close to a deal.” According to Milstein, via Dhaliwal, “the gap remains” and “the silence continues.
“I don’t know, like, what I was told this morning also is that the Canucks have a lot of balls in the air,” Dhaliwal reported. “They are working on a lot of things. They’re trying to get rid of some bad contracts. They’re trying to make some trades.
“So you have all these things on the outside. Do you expect urgency on the Canucks after what Milstein did Thursday? Nothing, I’m just told that silence continues.”
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