With NHL Trade Deadline looming, the Canucks need to be open to everything
We are a little over five weeks away from the NHL Trade Deadline, with teams starting to strategize what they should do with their rosters.
One team that is seeing all sorts of chaos within their organization is the Vancouver Canucks. Along with the inconsistent play the team has put forth this season, the off-ice drama is driving plenty of trade conversation.
The alleged rift between star forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson has garnered more headlines than the Canucks would like, leading many to believe one, if not both, might be on the trade block heading toward March.
As it stands, the Canucks (22-17-10) sit fifth in the Pacific Division, one point back of the Calgary Flames for the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. It puts the team in a strange spot where they don’t necessarily want to sell, but it’s hard to judge whether this can be buyers, given their current situation.
On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff, Jeff Paterson of Canucks Army joins the show to talk about why the Canucks need to have an open mind heading into the deadline.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Is it safe to say, if they don’t believe they can win this year, they got to be trading Brock Boeser and they have to be considering trading Kevin Lankinen as well, right?
Jeff Paterson: I think it’s now pretty apparent that everything’s on the table, including Quinn Hughes…Brock’s coming to the end of a contract year. 40 goals last year. He’s been spotty this year, suffered a head injury back in November that kind of slowed him a little bit. There will be interest around the National Hockey League, without a doubt. We saw last year that he’s a playoff performer…they’ve come this far without an extension. I think the organization has basically made it clear that he’s not in their plan, certainly not at the price and the term that he would want as a 28-year-old unrestricted free agent…He’s going to get paid. I just don’t think it’s going to be by the Vancouver Canucks.
Lankinen’s fascinating because you’ve got [Thatcher] Demko who just hasn’t been anywhere close to being the Vezina finalist that he was a year ago…You’ve got a guy that delivers. Lankinen’s got 18 of their 22 wins this year. He gives them the better chance to win right now. So, are you trading him, or are you considering trading the other guy at some point here, who’s got one year left at $5 million? If he can ever get back to anywhere close to the level he was at last year, he could be a steal for a team out there.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…