Canucks' asking price for Horvat trade revealed: report

If anything is clear about the Vancouver Canucks this season, it’s that they’ve got a tendency for drawn-out sagas.

During Saturday night’s 32 Thoughts segment of Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, insiders Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discussed the expected trade asking price and market for the Canucks’ captain.

“Three players including a top prospect,” Marek said of the Canucks’ demands for Horvat.

Horvat has been in rumours since mid-December after rejecting the team’s latest long-term contract offer, rumoured to be coming in at an annual average value below $8 million per season, per CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal.

Interestingly, the Canucks appear to be more interested in trading roster players and already established NHLers, rather than opting for future draft picks.

Horvat has 30 goals and 19 assists in 46 games this season, and appears well on his way to smash his career highs of 31 goals and 61 points.

“I’m getting the sense that Vancouver is separating the teams that are willing to continue that conversation, from the teams that won’t,” Friedman added. “I think that’s kinda what’s going on here, that Vancouver’s figuring out who is really serious. I don’t believe there’s anything imminent at this time, but I do think the Canucks know who’s in the game and who isn’t.”

Horvat is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, with his current six-year, $33 million deal signed in 2017 about to expire.

Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford was candid in a media availability last week about the team’s issues in retaining Horvat long-term.

“We’re in a pickle here… I believe we have taken our best shot [at offering Horvat a contract extension] and the contract that we have on the table for Bo right now I think is a fair contract for what he’s done up until this year. But it’s certainly under market value for what he’s done this year,” Rutherford told reporters last week. “He’s had a career year, a career run, and he’s looking for his money. He deserves it. I don’t blame him.”

The NHL trade deadline is set for March 3.

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