Everything has gone wrong this season for the Vancouver Canucks. Elias Pettersson and JT Miller’s locker-room rift forced the latter’s trade back to the New York Rangers. Thatcher Demko is hurt again, Quinn Hughes’ MVP-caliber season has been interrupted by injury, and they are outside the playoffs. The Canucks have winger Brock Boeser, who is in a contract year, that they decided to keep at the NHL trade deadline. But the Canucks should still not bring him back this offseason.
Boeser had the best season of his career in 2023-24, scoring 40 goals and making his second All-Star Game. It was his first 30-goal campaign, let alone 40. At 27 years old, he can put together more seasons like that in the right place. But Vancouver has shown this year that they are not the right place. With the team falling apart and injuries tanking this season, this should be it for Boeser and the Canucks.
In his post-deadline press conference, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin was asked about Boeser. His response came off as a pointed comment about Boeser’s trade value.
“If I told you what I was offered for Brock Boeser, I think I would have to run out of here because you would not believe me,” Allvin said. He also said the team spoke with Boeser’s camp about a contract extension in the days before the deadline.
The Canucks were having trade conversations about Boeser but Allvin implies he was not getting the right price. That was processed by fans and media as Allvin telling Boeser that the league does not see him as an elite player. Despite the public comments, Boeser said he had not read them as of Saturday, per TSN.
The Canucks already have chemistry issues and cannot continue with Brock Boeser
Best fits for Canucks’ Brock Boeser
Boeser is from Burnsville, Minnesota, and his hometown Wild could use another scorer to keep up in the Central Division. They will have plenty of money to spend because of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise’s buyout values declining. With the need and the cap space to make this move, they will be the frontrunners come July 1.
The Wild could not make the deal with the Canucks at the NHL trade deadline because of those buyouts and their injury situation. Kiril Kaprizov is expected to come back this year which means Minnesota had to be “dollar-in, dollar-out.” That forced them to stand pat while the teams in their division added the biggest names of the day.
An under-the-radar possibility for Boeser is the New York Islanders. They traded away Brock Nelson and could replace his scoring with a younger Brock from Minnesota. While Boeser is a winger, they need to get younger and their reported interest in bringing Kyle Palmieri back won’t help with that. He could be the scorer they need to put a jolt into their brutal powerplay.
You can never rule out the Vegas Golden Knights when it comes to spending on big-name players. If they can find the space to fit him, it would help replace the depth they have lost over the past year. The Canucks know all too well how dominant the Golden Knights can be and adding another scoring winger could help elevate them in the deep Western Conference.
Of all of those teams, none will have the cap space that the Columbus Blue Jackets will this summer. They will have other holes to fill, including defense and goaltending, but more scoring is never a bad thing. After the tragic passing of Johnny Gaudreau, they are looking for a scorer and Boeser could be that guy. After this surprising and electric season, they should be going all-in on this core.
