Ominous Development In Tyler Myers Talks With Canucks

Both the Vancouver Canucks and impending UFA defenseman Tyler Myers were all about re-upping on a new contract to keep the 6'8" d-man in B.C. But it appears that this story has taken an unexpected turn, and that Myers might be hitting the free agent market on July 1st.

Hockey Insider Chris Johnson reports on his podcast that contract talks have not progressed, and Myers could be moving on.

Tyler Myers is a good bet now not to stay with the Canucks. I know he wanted to but it doesn't sound like the talks have been productive towards getting a deal.

At the beginning of the Canucks offseason late last month, we heard rumblings from some around the league that extension talks were already underway with Myers, but his agent JP Barry shot that down, saying that the Canucks had other priorities that they needed to get to first. "I don't think we're first in line," said Barry at the time.

There's no doubt that Vancouver has been pretty focused on trying to work on an extension with another large pending UFA blueliner, Nikita Zadorov, as well as working behind the scenes to try and land one of the top offensive UFAs, Jake Guentzel, from Carolina.

Myers, 34, just finished his 5th season in Vancouver, and had a vastly improved year on the highly-competitive Canucks team. He had his best offensive year with the team, notching 29 points on five goals and 24 assists, and posted the best plus/minus rating of his career, +16, while playing 19 minutes a night.

It would be a huge void on the blueline (literally and figuratively speaking) if the Canucks are forced to let him walk.