Welcome Matt: Canucks are no sure bet to make more trades before deadline
As recently as this weekend, I would’ve bet on the Vancouver Canucks making at least one more move before the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3.
Now, I’m not so sure.
There seems to be a lot of momentum around re-signing veteran Luke Schenn. The defenceman was — or still is — most likely to be dealt because he’s a low-salary, easy fit and a pending unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
The Canucks seem motivated to move Brock Boeser, and his agent has been out there seeking a new home for a couple of months, but an unwieldy contract might push that deal to the summer.
It also sounds like Boeser is a “sidebar” pursuit, to steal a line from today’s guest Darren Dreger, for teams seeking a scoring winger. Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks is the big prize. Boeser is the consolation prize, and an expensive consolation at that.
There’s smoke on goaltender Thatcher Demko, but that’s one where the Canucks would have to be blown away by a particular offer. The return — for an injured player who wasn’t necessarily been performing well this season — would have to be immense, and would have to yield a starting goaltender or put Vancouver in a position to get one. Not an easy deal.
In fact, given the Canucks put Ilya Mikheyev on long-term injured reserve and created cap space, one wonders if they will simply be a broker for cap-strapped teams looking to land big-money players — that they would acquire and immediately flip a guy like Patrick Kane while retaining some salary and getting a draft pick back for their troubles.
That’s not sexy.
But if you’re bringing back Schenn, the other trades are far from sure things.
Canucks fans hoping for “major surgery” should be prepared to be underwhelmed.
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