When can the Canucks start making trades this offseason?

The Vancouver Canucks have a lot of work to do this offseason. As it stands, they’re short a top line winger, a second line centre (and first line centre if Elias Pettersson doesn’t figure it out next season), among other things. So when can they start addressing these needs via trade?

Obviously, free agency doesn’t open until July 1st. We know that already. But as Jim Rutherford said at his end of season press conference, the Canucks likely aren’t going to be looking to address their needs via free agency. Instead, they’ll look to make some savvy trades to give this team the rebound they so desperately crave.

When can the Canucks start making trades? 

The answer to the question posed in our headline is technically “right now”. And that’s because technically, teams are allowed to make trades after the NHL Trade Deadline, the players acquired post-deadline just aren’t eligible for the playoffs, which is why you typically see those trades happen before the deadline.

Additionally, the only actual limitations on when teams can make trades are for the nine days in December referred to as the NHL Christmas Trade Freeze.

Now, the question of when will the Canucks start making trades is another question.

There is an unwritten understanding between the league and its teams not to make big trades during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and certainly not during the early rounds of the playoffs. Additionally, given the weight of what the Canucks are going to be looking to accomplish with these trades, they’d be wise to wait until they have as many teams as possible to explore their options with. Obviously, teams still competing in the playoffs won’t be very keen on talking trades.

When will the Canucks start making deals?

Last year, the first trade that come after March was between the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning, where Tampa reacquired Ryan McDonagh and Nashville picked up a couple of draft picks. Both teams were eliminated from the playoffs, and second round series were coming to a close at the time.

There was another trade just a couple of days later, when the New York Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks moved draft picks around.

But after those two? The NHL trade market was quiet until June 19th, when we saw three deals: Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey, Ty Dellandrea to San Jose, and the Pierre-Luc Dubois-Darcy Kuemper swap between Washington and Los Angeles. These three trades came a day after the Florida Panthers took a 3-2 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers in game five of the Stanley Cup Final.

From there, trades of varying significance started to come down the pipeline in the days leading up to the NHL Draft. There was the Linus Ullmark deal, the Jake Walman trade, and more as teams tried to get their ducks in a row for both the draft and July 1st free agency.

With the last possible day for the Stanley Cup Final this season set for June 23rd and the NHL Draft set for June 27th and 28th, it seems safe to say that trade activity will pick up around the same time as last year: in mid-late June.

For the Canucks specifically, there’s also the factor of not yet having a head coach in place. Rutherford said there would be a sense of urgency from the Canucks to name a coach due to the fact they’d like that coach to be aware and involved with the roster decisions that the team makes this offseason. Assuming the Canucks have a coach by mid-June, they should be sticking with this timeline rather than jumping the queue and making a trade in the month of May or in early June.