Welcome Matt: Nailing Boeser, Garland trades could do wonders for Canucks' management's approval rating
Now that Andrei Kuzmenko is re-signed and more cap dollars have been committed on the wing, logic would dictate that the Vancouver Canucks need to move out wingers.
Logic doesn’t always apply to the Canucks, but the reports are now percolating that Brock Boeser and Conor Garland may well be moved by the March 3 trade deadline alongside captain Bo Horvat.
Two things on trading those wingers in the next month:
One: unless they get on heaters, you are trading at lower ebb.
Saw former NHL executive Cam Charron write recently that he’d sit on Boeser and see if he can rebound. Let more of that rich contract burn off, see if offers improve in the summer when teams have more cap space.
The same could well apply to Garland.
He’s not bad. His analytics are typically pretty good. He’ll play most of next season at age 27. And he could well bounce back under new head coach Rick Tocchet.
Every team out there knows the Canucks have too much money tied up for next season (period) and especially on the wing.
Boeser’s agent has been seeking a trade for two months, suggesting this won’t be an easy deal.
This is pointing to the Canucks finally being willing to cut bait, accept little trade return and deal with the PR fallout of poor asset management. Both on Boeser and on Garland.
But there’s a flip side, too, which brings me to my second thought on trading these two wings:
Two: What if the Canucks make great trades here?
What if they’ve been marketing these players effectively and have identified goal-needy contenders that are willing to make hockey deals and give them something of substance in return?
I know, it’s a stretch given what we’ve seen and heard from this management group.
But I suspect there are Boeser and Garland fans out there, and if the Canucks are willing to take bad short-term money back (or retain salary), then there’s a narrow channel where Boeser and Garland deals get Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin back in the good graces of fans.
We know they have to make a great Horvat trade, but good Boeser and Garland trades could help repair some of the damage of this month.