What’s the deal with signing Willie Mitchell?

At this point in free agency there always seems to be a bargain free agent who for some reason or another has not been signed with about a month left in the offseason.

Last year that player seemed to be Alex Tanguay a player coming off injury but who has showed the league that he could play in his role.  This season, that free agent happens to be former Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell.

So why has this bruising defenseman not been scooped up with the rest of the stay-at-home defenders?

His skill level, experience and grit added to any blue line could rival that of Anton Volchenkov or Zbynek Michalek when healthy; which seems to be the key phrase.

Last season, while with the Canucks the 33-year-old missed a total of 34 games and the entire post-season after sustaining a concussion at the hands of league superstar Evgeni Malkin.  The Russian forward clearly threw him into the boards from behind and could have ended this veteran’s career.  In fact, before teams received a clean bill of healthy from Mitchell’s camp there was speculation he would in fact retire.

So now Mitchell has made it very clear to teams he would like to play, giving us four leading candidates: San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals, Los Angeles Kings and his hometown team the Vancouver Canucks.

San Jose makes sense as the Sharks actively tried to acquire a stay-at-home defender in Niklas Hjalmarsson earlier this offseason.  With Rob Blake departing from the team they could use a bit of help on the back end; something tells me that giving Jay Leach more playing time will not help their cause.

Los Angeles recently lost a similarly bruising defenseman in Matt Greene and expect to miss him for an extended amount of time.  A short-term contract at a reasonable rate would add depth to their blue line while adding depth for an extended playoff run.  If the Kings plan on using rookie Jonathan Bernier or the young Jonathan Quick, they need to keep their defenseman in the crease and extremely protective– a position Mitchell thrives in.

The Washington Capitals recently had a very good meeting with Mitchell according to Katie Carrera of The Washington Post.  While he fits a need as Shaone Morrisonn recently signed on with the Buffalo Sabres, the decision remains up to Mitchell whether he would prefer a tour of the East Coast.  To date he has always played a Western style of hockey and despite being drafted by the New Jersey Devils he only played 18 games for the big club.

Which leaves our final contestant, the Vancouver Canucks.  Someone should tell the team they already hold nine NHL defenders on their roster but they seem poised to do little else but acquire defenders and defensive forwards during the offseason.  A few days ago Yankee Canuck of Nucks Misconduct asked whether you would prefer Kevin Bieksa or a returning Mitchell.  The results rendered a whopping 76 percent perferring the team to trade away Bieksa and sign on a player who is less replaceable.

Since the team already holds so many defenseman, the Canucks would need to make a move to sign Mitchell which is perhaps why he is still so far away from signing a contract.  The status of their captain Roberto Luongo also appears to be up in the are as well, which leads to added complications should the team need to re-sign him or strip him of his captaincy.

One thing is for sure, whoever gets his services will receive one nasty son-of-a-bitch.