$19 million can buy a lot of stuff, but when you’re an NHL free agent and that’s the amount of the contract you signed, it also costs, and what it costs are high expectations.

There were definitely questions in the air when the Vancouver Canucks inked Ilya Mikheyev to a four-year, $4.75 million AAV deal with a modified-NTC this past July. Prior to his signing, the speedy 28-year-old Russian winger had played just 146 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs over three seasons, racking up just 72 points in that span.

To say that there were doubts about the contract is fair, as were the doubts themselves. Mikheyev had shown himself to be both injury-prone and an inconsistent producer in Toronto, and GM Patrik Allvin was committing a big chunk of salary and term to someone who played at a position of organizational strength.

At the time, we pointed at some underlying numbers that suggested Mikheyev might be more than meets the eye, and wondered if he might transform into a genuine top-six talent upon arriving in Vancouver. We speculated that, if he could just stay healthy, Mikheyev might just be that rare UFA signing that actually lives up to his contract.

Well, turns out we were half-right. Because while Mikheyev has not stayed healthy, he’s still managed to live up to his contract so far. And, if anything, his brush with injury this year just makes his debut performance with the Canucks all the more impressive.

The Counting Stats

As has become the norm for him, Mikheyev’s stats look their best when examined on a per-game and per-60 basis.

All situations

Mikheyev did not set any notable career highs in 2022/23, aside from average time-on-ice. His per-game production, however, matched his previous best from the year prior exactly, and his goals-per-game still had him on pace for about 25 over a full season.

On the surface, it looks like solid second line production, but there’s more to it than that.

Even-strength

While frequent linemates Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko received top unit power play duty, Mikheyev was relegated to the lesser-played second unit, and his numbers reflect that.

So, Mikheyev’s overall PPG might have him tied for 179^th overall, but the majority of players listed ahead of him played more on the power play, and more in general.

Despite missing half the season, Mikheyev’s 25 even-strength points still ranked eighth on the Canucks.

Power Play

As we said, Mikheyev didn’t receive much opportunity on the power play, but still managed to contribute a little bit here and there. He added even less to the penalty kill, but it should be noted that Mikheyev’s pre-injury time coincided with the point at which the Canucks were achieving historically bad results while shorthanded.

Mikheyev didn’t stick around long enough to benefit from his squad’s resurgence on special teams.

Shorthanded

There are a few other counting stats not listed here, but well worth mentioning.

Mikheyev was on the ice for 41 goals for and 36 against at even-strength, a goal-differential of +6 that still ranked fourth on the Canucks by season’s end.

And though Mikheyev set a career-high for average minutes, he still didn’t play an exorbitant amount. His per-60 scoring rate of 2.43 was fourth-highest on the Canucks and 39^th highest in the entire league.

On that basis alone, Mikheyev’s production isn’t just top-six quality, it’s arguably top-line. Either way, it seems like plenty of scoring from someone who ended the season as the 144^th-highest-paid forward in the NHL, and should put to rest most worries about his being overpaid.

The Fancy Stats

Mikheyev’s analytic statline might not look very encouraging, but there’s some very important context that needs to be applied here.

From NaturalStatTrick, for even-strength play

Yes, Mikheyev’s fancy stats are well below the breaking-even point across the board and, no, that’s not typically seen as a good thing. But one has to remember that Mikheyev played his last game of the season on January 27. That was just days after Bruce Boudreau’s firing, and long before the Tocchet Turnaround had taken full effect.

Prior to that, the Canucks were one of the worst teams in the league, putting up historically-bad numbers in some regards and dragging the entire roster’s analytics downward. In fact, during that time, Mikheyev was one of the only Canucks to be on the ice for more goals for than goals against, which was notable given his “slightly-above-league-average” quality of competition.