Canucks tried trading Tyler Myers to Senators: report

The Vancouver Canucks definitely need some help wherever they can get it.

But it doesn’t seem like the Ottawa Senators will be the team to provide it — at least, in one deal that fell through, with the teams reportedly talking about acquiring defenceman Nikita Zaitsev in exchange for Myers.

“I do think [Ottawa] and Vancouver talked about a Tyler Myers, Nikita Zaitsev-type trade,” said Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman during last night’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. “I don’t think it ever got to Myers. My buddy, Rick Dhaliwal, reported that [Myers] didn’t turn down a trade — I don’t think it ever got to him.”

With a record of 6-9-3 and looking like the postseason is unlikely once again, the Canucks are stuck in the position where it’s clear the team is in need of significant changes, but the uncomfortable “rebuild” word doesn’t seem like something the management and ownership group want to commit to.

But then there’s a player like Myers, who was signed as a free agent on a five-year, $30 million deal by former general manager Jim Benning in summer 2019.

And with the Canucks struggling hard to start the year — and Myers unlikely to have a future in Vancouver past his contract expiring next season —  it makes sense why he’s in trade rumours.

Zaitsev, though, with two years left on a deal at $4.5 million, has a modified no-trade clause, that allows him to submit a ten-team no-trade list. It’s possible that the trade not “getting to Myers”, as Friedman put it, could’ve meant Zaitsev had the Canucks on his no-trade list.

The big thing, though, is they need to find a trade partner. So far, it hasn’t quite worked out, with another Eastern Conference Canadian team also finding themselves in rumours this week.

“There’s also been talk the Vancouver Canucks are willing to move defenceman Tyler Myers and the Leafs have been among the teams kicking tires there,” Ottawa Sun writer Bruce Garrioch wrote in a column earlier this week.

Just another lovely weekend in the Vancouver market. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

You might also like:
• “Feels good”: Boeser smiling again after finally scoring for Canucks this season