The Vancouver Canucks have signed underrated winger Ilya Mikheyev to a four-year deal worth $4.75M AAV and versatile forward Curtis Lazar to a three-year deal worth $1M AAV. The Canucks have also signed goaltender Collin Delia to a one-way contract to become their backup goaltender.

The Canucks get: an underrated winger and fancy-stats darling who was underutilized in Toronto. Mikheyev suffered untimely injuries, hiding from the NHL world just how good a player he is. Labeled as extremely intelligent, hardworking and very coachable, his former coach Bob Hartley considered him the most improved player in the KHL over the course of his final year there.

Once in Toronto, he was just getting started when he suffered a freak injury – his wrist got sliced by a skate. Then came COVID. When he returned in 2020-21, he was unable to establish himself as a top sixer in the first dozen games and with a team like the Leafs – they couldn't afford to wait while he worked through it. So he was buried on the fourth line. Considering that over the course of 13 months he had played exactly five games, he deserves a Mulligan for that season. But then, in training camp last fall, he suffered another freak injury.

He finally returned on January 1^st. And that's when the real Mikheyev showed up: 21 goals and 32 points in 52 games (he played a single game in mid-December, which I'm not counting). This is with 15 minutes of ice time and playing mostly with David Kampf and Ondrej Kase. This is with about one minute of PP time per game. With Vancouver, you can expect top-six linemates, 16:30 of ice time (i.e. about two or three extra shifts) and about two minutes of PP time per game (i.e. double). The potential production boost here could be huge. If he stays healthy, you could see this guy reach 65 points. He was used primarily as a defensive forward with Toronto and was elite in that role (see diagram).

In Lazar, the Canucks have replaced their earlier loss of Tyler Motte. A solid bottom-six checker at a cheap price.

In Delia, the Canucks buy prospect Michael DiPietro another year of development. Delia can be a solid backup and is low risk at one year.

Fantasy Players Impacted: Mikheyev is getting paid like a top-six forward, which makes the situation a little crowded there. Only Brock Boeser has a guaranteed spot. And if Conor Garland stays, he's likely good there too. But Tanner Pearson, Vasily Podkolzin and newcomer Andrei Kuzmenko will probably lose any chance at a spot if Elias Pettersson and JT Miller get back together.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

1. Mikheyev

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

1. Pearson
2. Podkolzin
3. Kuzmenko
4. Nils Hoglander