Tyler Myers, Canucks agree to five-year, $30 million deal

The Vancouver Canucks have landed one of the biggest unrestricted fish on the free agency market.

Literally.

TSN’s Frank Seravalli and Andy Strickland of FOX Sports Midwest reported on Sunday that blueliner Tyler Myers and the Canucks were closing in on a five-year, $30 million deal to be signed Monday.

Sportsnet’s John Shannon confirmed the deal on Monday afternoon.

Here’s the breakdown of the contract from TSN’s Darren Dreger.

The 29-year-old has spent the last four-and-a-half seasons with the Winnipeg Jets. He began his NHL career with the Buffalo Sabres, an organization that he played five-and-a-half seasons with before he was part of a huge trade in February 2015 that sent him, Joel Armia and Drew Stafford to Winnipeg for Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian.

During the 2018-19 campaign, Myers scored nine goals and collected 31 points in 80 regular season contests. In 635 career regular season games, the former Kelowna Rocket and Calder Memorial Trophy winner has found the back of the net 74 times and collected 265 points.

One of the tallest players in the league at six-foot-eight, Myers will provide quite the boost to a Vancouver squad that surrendered an average of 3.02 goals against per game in 2018-19 (18th in the league). His size and heavy style of play will make life miserable for opponents; however, the deal has some scratching their heads.

It may be a stretch to pay $6 million a year for a guy that will be in his mid-thirties once the contract comes to an end and can’t be defined as a top-pairing defenceman. With that in mind, the guidance that he’ll provide young blueliners such as Quinn Hughes and Guillaume Brisebois while alongside Alexander Edler and Chris Tanev is invaluable.

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