The Vancouver Canucks’ goals for this year’s trade deadline is probably one of the biggest mysteries in the league.
Amidst a season that has seen the Canucks trade JT Miller, and may also see them move on from Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, it’s hard to get a true grasp of what Vancouver is going to do by the March 7 deadline.
According to Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin in an interview with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that was published on Tuesday, the team will probably fall somewhere in between. While he is looking to improve the team, Canucks fans shouldn’t expect them to pursue any traditional rentals like last year’s acquisitions of Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm.
However, that doesn’t mean that the Canucks aren’t going to make any additions. Instead, they’ll focus on acquiring players with a long-term outlook with the team.
Vancouver has already acquired Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor using assets they acquired in the Miller trade, with both players having already re-signed with the team. Should the Canucks make any other trades before Friday’s trade deadline, expect them to lean more in that direction. However, it won’t be for the intention of another rebuild.
“When you’re looking at teams that are talking about rebuilding, they’re looking to get players like Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson,” Allvin said to Sportsnet. “We have those guys. There’s not a guarantee that [players like that] are going to be available in the draft. And if they are, they might be good four or five years from now. Finding superstars like Quinn, it’s hard. I believe that with this group, we’re just going to continue to build and get better. I don’t envision us to take a step back. The results might not be the way we want, but I don’t envision us to take a step back.”
Ultimately, it appears that Allvin and the Canucks have no intent on selling any of those big names for assets meant for the future. If they acquire any picks or prospects in return for Pettersson or Boeser, they’d prefer to utilize those assets to get players who are of that ilk and not wait it out to see if these assets can become a Hughes or Pettersson-type player down the road.
We’ll see what this management group is able to do by Friday’s trade deadline.
