During today’s episode of Donnie and Dhali — The Team, Rick Dhaliwal said that the Canucks have their eyes on Brandon Duhaime as an option for their bottom six if he becomes a free agent this summer.
“The Canucks had big interest in Minnesota Wild Forward Brandon Duhaime at the trade deadline, and I am told today the interest has not gone away,” he said. “He would be a great fit in the fourth line… Kills penalties, energy, tough, sticks up for teammates, he can fight. Keep an eye on Duhaime and the Canucks if he hits July 1st.”
Vancouver has indeed been reported to be interested in Duhaime in the past as DailyFaceoff’s Frank Seravalli linked the two parties together back in late February. The transaction never materialized, as the Wild would ultimately ship him to the Avalanche in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick, but this has not deterred the Canucks in their pursuit of the American winger, according to Dhaliwal.
Given the uncertainty surrounding Sam Lafferty and Phillip Di Giuseppe going into free agency, Duhaime would be a solid replacement because his playstyle would be a perfect fit for the type of hockey Rick Tocchet wants out of his players.
Duhaime recorded a combined 13 points (five goals and eight assists) in 80 games last year split between the Wild and Avalanche. He went on to add a goal in 11 postseason games, so he won’t be brought in to provide some offence as it is not in his repertoire. It is the fact that he has been a reliable penalty killer and is not afraid to throw the body around as evidenced by him throwing a combined 208 hits this past season.
He is coming off a one-year contract that paid him $1.1 million, and AFPAnalytics projects his next contract to be a three-year $5.5 million. With the potential AAV clocking in at roughly $1.8 million a season, that is something the Canucks would be comfortable with and make the projected loss of Lafferty to free agency sting less.
Of course, Colorado could very easily re-ink him to a contract in a similar range to the aforementioned projection. But if they are unable to get a deal done with him, you can expect the Canucks to make a big push to make Duhaime one of their free-agent signings of the summer.
