The Vancouver Canucks should acquire Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment, NHL analyst and insider Rick Dhaliwal urges.
Dhaliwal made his pitch during the June 2 edition of the Donnie and Dhali show, encouraging the Canucks to make a run at acquiring Marchment amid the Stars’ salary cap squeeze.
The Stars head into this summer with a little under $5 million in cap space and have roughly nine UFA/RFAs this offseason, including captain Jamie Benn. While Marchment is not a UFA this summer, he will be entering the final year of his current four-year, $18 million deal.
Given the Stars’ precarious cap situation, Mason Marchment could be one of the players on the outside looking in this upcoming season. Stars’ GM Jim Nil will need to choose which players to keep, particularly considering that star winger Jason Robertson will also need a contract after this upcoming season.
Dhaliwal stated the following regarding Mason Marchement:
“The Canucks should go out and get this guy.”
Dhaliwal expanded his thoughts, referring to the upcoming NHL combine which is a de facto gathering of all GMs that often leads to trade talk. Dhaliwal underscored how the combine could be an opportunity for the Canucks to strike up a deal for Marchment.
He added:
“Dallas is in a cap crunch, Donnie. I’m even hearing Jason Robertson’s name up there. People are throwing names out there.”
It’s worth pointing out that Dhaliwal’s explosive remarks led to the original X post being taken down.
But fans can catch the full episode on Spotify or any of the other streaming platforms the show airs.
As for the rationale behind Dhaliwal’s plea for the Canucks to acquire Mason Marchment, Dhaliwal noted that the Vancouver Canucks still have a hole in the lineup at 2C following the J.T. Miller trade this past season with the New York Rangers.
It’s Dhaliwal’s belief that Mason Marchment could be the right fit for the Vancouver Canucks, especially with the Stars tight up against the cap.
Vancouver Canucks could fit Marchment under cap this upcoming season
According to PuckPedia, the Canucks have a little over $14 million in cap space. The good news is that beyond Brock Boeser, the club doesn’t have any big-ticket free agents.
In addition to Boeser, this season’s breakout star Pius Suter needs a new contract. Assuming that the Canucks sign one of Suter or Boeser, that should leave the club with enough room to fit Marchment’s $4.5 million AAV this upcoming season.
However, Marchment will be a UFA and might command significantly more than $4.5 million. That situation means that the Vancouver Canucks may find it challenging to sign Marchment to a long-term extension.
The Canucks could make such a deal work given the cap ceiling rising over the next couple of seasons. Vancouver still has captain Quinn Hughes under contract for two more seasons, with Thatcher Demko’s $5 million cap hit potentially coming off the books after next season.
Ultimately, trading for Marchment could work for the Vancouver Canucks this upcoming season, providing secondary scoring for new head coach Adam Foote.
Edited by Nestor Quixtan