Canucks hope to re-sign Markstrom: report

The Vancouver Canucks hope to re-sign goalie Jacob Markstrom, who can become an unrestricted free agent after this season, general manager Jim Benning told The Province on Tuesday.

"I've said all along that he's an important guy for us," Benning told the newspaper. "My intent is to figure out something that works for him and us. I'm hoping to get him signed, but that's part of the business. We'll have to wait and see."

The 30-year-old, who is in the final season of a three-year contract with an average annual value of $3.67 million, had been in negotiations with the Canucks before postponing those talks after the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

"Hockey has become not so important with everything that's going on around the world," Markstrom said in April. "Obviously, I would have liked to have had a long-term deal and know what I'm going to do for the next few years here, but that's not the case right now."

Markstrom has been Vancouver's No. 1 goalie since the start of the 2017-18 season. He was 23-16-4 with a 2.75 goals-against average this season, and among goalies to make at least 40 starts, he was fourth in the NHL with a .918 save percentage.

Selected by the Florida Panthers in the second round (No. 31) of the 2008 NHL Draft, Markstrom was acquired by the Canucks as part of the trade involving Roberto Luongo on March 4, 2014. In 272 NHL games (256 starts), he is 110-118-32 with a 2.80 GAA and .911 save percentage.

"We know what's he's capable of," Benning said. "It's the reason when I took the job (on May 21, 2014) that we wanted to get him to Utica (the Canucks' American Hockey League affiliate) that year and develop because we knew there was a high side to his game. It's been a bit of a journey and we're seeing what he's capable of on a nightly basis."

Vancouver (36-27-6, .565 points percentage) will play the Minnesota Wild (35-27-7, .558) in a best-of-5 series in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers as part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, which will involve 24 teams competing for the Stanley Cup.

Whenever that series begins, Markstrom has said he will be ready to play after sustaining a knee injury in the second period of a 9-3 win against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 22, which required a minor procedure five days later.