Zeev Buium's next contract might be the least of Vancouver's worries with Manny Malhotra now surrounded by an all-rookie coaching staff.
This month, the Canucks finished building out that staff, and not one voice around Malhotra has any prior NHL experience.
Ryan Mougenel spent five years as head coach in Providence before this. Jordan Smith has been an Abbotsford assistant for three seasons, and Jason Krog was a skills coach until now.
Vancouver just finished dead last in the league at 25-49-8, with a minus-100 goal differential. That's the roster this new staff inherits.
The upside is a group that already knows Malhotra personally. Smith's rapport with him mattered enough that predecessor Adam Foote reportedly lacked exactly that inside voice.
In Abbotsford, several junior hockey candidates reportedly walked away from that job over compensation before the Canucks landed Ryan Papaioannou, a well regarded AJHL coach, to run the bench there.
Away from the bench, Vancouver's real bet is on contracts. Zeev Buium is signed at $966,667 and Liam Ohgren at $886,667, both extension eligible now.
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Buium put up 26 points over 76 games as a 20 year old, finishing at minus-33. Ohgren added 18 points in 69 games at minus-19.
The math around them changes fast once the new CBA kicks in on September 15, cutting max contract term from eight years down to seven.
Pittsburgh already made its move, signing Ville Koivunen to an eight year extension worth $4 million a season, backloaded to limit risk if he doesn't hit.
Vancouver should be doing the opposite. Front load Buium and Ohgren's next deals instead, turning any future breakout into a below market bargain for years.
That kind of aggression takes real spending, and this front office hasn't shown much appetite for it this summer, even in its own coaching search.
Whether ownership actually opens the checkbook before that Sept. 15 deadline will say a lot more about this rebuild than any single coaching hire.
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Should the Canucks be worried about an all-rookie coaching staff around Manny Malhotra?
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