The Canucks are not shopping Bo Horvat in a trade: report

Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports

All is seemingly quiet in Bo Horvat’s contract negotiations with the Vancouver Canucks.

Horvat’s play on the ice has been anything but quiet, of course.

The Canucks captain is tied with Connor McDavid, and Jason Robertson for the league lead in goals right now, with 16.

After 20 games, Horvat is on pace for 65 goals — which would break Pavel Bure’s Canucks franchise record (60) for goals in a season.

Horvat is a pending unrestricted free agent, so the Canucks have to make a decision before the March 3 trade deadline.

Whether the Canucks will trade Horvat or re-sign him is still up in the air.

If the team and player are talking contract, they’ve kept it remarkably quiet. It’s leading to speculation that Horvat is destined to be traded.

So is Horvat on his way out of town?

“Pump the brakes,” says NHL insider Darren Dreger.

“I know Vancouver wants to keep him. They recognize his value; they can see the type of character he is,” Dreger said on Friday’s edition of the Ray and Dregs Podcast. “He’s not going to go wire-to-wire with this level of offence, but they’ve seen enough to know that he’s an interesting and needed piece moving forward.

“So we in the media… we gotta pump the brakes on the speculation. Just because the negotiation hasn’t concluded to this point, maybe it hasn’t started with any sense of vigour at this point, doesn’t mean they’re shopping him.

“I know they’re not shopping him. And I know they want to keep him in Vancouver.”

A lot can change between now and the deadline, and certainly, losing Horvat for nothing can’t be an option. But the Canucks are in a precarious position. Given how he’s playing, Horvat’s value is sky-high. If there was ever a time to cash in on him, it’s right now.

Then there’s Horvat’s birth certificate.

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Horvat turns 28 in April, and a new long-term contract would pay him well into his 30s.

A rebuilding team might want to deal a player with that profile, but Canucks management doesn’t seem interested in rebuilding. They’ve already re-signed J.T. Miller, whose contract won’t expire until after he celebrates his 37th birthday.

The Canucks could still opt to trade Miller, though his seven-year, $56 million contract may scare away some teams. Miller’s no-movement clause doesn’t kick in until after this season, so GM Patrik Allvin is free to move him.

Miller is close to a point-per-game pace with 19 points in 20 games, but his season is still considered a disappointment by most. Beginning the season as Vancouver’s No. 1 centre, Miller has been a liability defensively when playing in the middle this season.

During an interview with Sekeres and Price on Friday, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal said that the Canucks might be looking to move a contract to make space for a new Horvat deal. Could that be Miller’s?

Vancouver isn’t scheduled to get much cap relief in the offseason, as the only other players on expiring deals are affordable ones like Andrei Kuzmenko ($950,000 salary), Luke Schenn ($850,000), and Kyle Burroughs ($750,000). Micheal Ferland’s $3.5 million average annual salary also vanishes after this season; however, he is on long-term injured reserve already, anyway.

Horvat is the longest-tenured Canucks player. He was drafted by the Canucks nearly a decade ago and has played 592 games for the franchise since making his NHL debut in 2014.

It will be fascinating to see which direction the Canucks take.