The Vancouver Canucks have missed the playoffs in four of the last five seasons. This year, they were just six points outside of a playoff spot, but still, it was a major step back from winning the Pacific Division in 2022-23. It was a tumultuous season for the Canucks this past campaign. They traded JT Miller and have split with head coach Rick Tocchet. Still, they have made some quality moves and could be close to a return to the playoffs. They need to make one more trade in this NHL offseason to move even closer to being able to contend.
The Canucks opened their summer with a trade. They traded for forward Evander Kane from the Edmonton Oilers. They were also able to bring back some pieces from last year. First, they locked up Thatcher Demko and Conor Garland. Then, they re-signed Brock Boeser, even though he was expected to move on from the franchise. The Canucks are tight on cap-space overall. They have just $20,000 in cap space remaining, so General Manager Patrik Allvin will need to be creative to make a transaction work. Still, they have some attractive pieces that they may be able to trade away while upgrading the roster.
Vancouver needs more scoring options from their forwards. Last season, the top scorer on the team was Quinn Hughes, a blue-liner, who had just 76 points. Meanwhile, the top point-producing forwards were Brock Boeser and Conor Garland, both of whom scored 50 points. Finally, Jake DeBrusk led the team in goals last year, scoring 28.
The Canucks ended up 24th in the NHL in goals per game. Furthermore, the power play was 15th in the NHL last year. This is a major area of need for the Vancouver, and while they have limited cap space, they need to swing big for a top-end forward.
The Canucks swing for a blockbuster trade
The Canucks had been connected to Christian Dvorak, but he ended up going to the Philadelphia Flyers. There was also a rumor of them trying to trade for Trevor Zegras, but he is also with the Flyers now. First, the Canucks need to figure out who to move to create space. Elias Pettersson had been mentioned as a player who could have been moved. This has become more difficult, though. He has a no-movement clause that kicked in on July 1st. This means Pettersson himself would need to sign off on any movement of his contract. The Canucks could be able to convince him to do that if it is the right situation.
It would make sense for the Canucks to make this move overall. First, he scored just 15 goals last year while adding 30 assists. This was a massive decline from his prior two seasons. At the height of his production, the Swede was scoring over 30 goals, while also having over 65 points per year, capped off with a 102-point campaign in 2022-23. He is also due $11.6 million per year for the next seven seasons. The Canucks will likely need to retain some of that salary, but even with some retention, they could clear up enough cap space to make a move.
One star the Canucks could go after is a member of the Dallas Stars. The Stars are reportedly listening to offers for Jason Robertson. The Canucks seem to have interest in the American-born forward. He was the 39th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Stars. The former second-round pick would break into the NHL in the 2019-20 season, but play in just three games that season. He would become a full-time player with the franchise the next season. The winger has been great in the past four seasons. He has scored 29 or more goals in all four, while also having 79 or more points.
Further, he has played in 82 games in each of the last three years and scored 109 points in the 2022-23 season. Last year, he led the Stars in goals with 35 while also sitting second on the team in points with 80. That would have made him the leading scorer on the Canucks last season. He was also solid on the power play, with nine goals and ten assists last year.
Robertson is in the final year of his contract and will become a restricted free agent next season. He also has a salary cap hit of $7.75 million. The Stars are also $1 million over the salary cap right now. Moving the forward would place them $6 million under the cap, meaning if the Canucks were to trade Pettersson to the Stars, they would need to retain nearly $5 million in salary while also finding a way to shed plenty of cap space. Regardless, the job of the GM is to find the players and do so in the confines of the salary cap. Other parts could be moved, and this is a move that could potentially benefit both teams.
