Welcome Matt: It won't be easy for Canucks to find a trade partner for Boeser

Brock Boeser’s agent respectfully declined to come on today’s show, saying he won’t be talking publicly about his empowerment to seek a trade for the Vancouver Canucks winger.

Ben Hankinson called it a “behind-the-scenes situation,” and as Blake Price noted yesterday, it’s regrettable that it’s come to this.

The market threw it arms around Brock when he first got here, those were sunny days filled with optimism and terrific play from No. 6. As Canucks fans and media, we feel like we know the Boeser family given how much of their story they’ve shared with us.

It is a little peculiar that Hankinson is out there trying to find a trade fit. The Canucks certainly don’t lack for front-office manpower, and it is typically the job of managers to negotiate trades.

That’s a sign that either things have gone off the rails over at Rogers Arena, or some combination of Jim Rutherford and Patrick Allvin have tried their level best and failed to find a landing spot for Boeser.

And I can understand why. Boeser needs particular circumstances to be successful.

He must play with a playmaking centreman. There are no ifs, ands or buts about that because he isn’t much of a creator.

Frankly, I’m disappointed he hasn’t become a better creator because as we often noted during his rookie year, he wasn’t simply a stand-still shooter. That is his best attribute, but there’s good hockey IQ there and that is one of the reasons that he’s been a respectable defensive player over the years.

Alas, his lack of foot speed was always the big weakness and it’s only gotten more pronounced in an ever-quickening NHL.

And therein lies the problem for the Canucks and for fans expecting a significant trade return. Boeser is just too one-dimensional, too expensive, and too injury-prone.

An acquiring club has to be a specific fit because he’s not a forechecker and lacks the traits to be an effective bottom-six player, on top of his need to play with a creator. He doesn’t have the defensive acumen to underpin a line, so he must also play with a 200-foot linemate.

All that limits his fits, and his contract ($6.65 million with two years remaining after this season) was already cumbersome.

It will be difficult to find a trade partner willing to take on the totality of that contract, so a return like third- and fourth-round draft picks that Columbus got from Seattle for comparable winger Oliver Bjorkstrand, may not be available.

The Canucks will almost certainly have to eat money on Boeser’s deal or take some undesirable money back.

Maybe a player like Blake Wheeler in Winnipeg, who has trade protection, can serve as a centrepiece.

The Jets want out of his $8.25 million contract that expires next year. Wheeler has a five-team trade list, so Vancouver would have to be an approved destination.

But it may well be that if Boeser gets his change of scenery to theoretically jumpstart his career, the Canucks will have to take a similar player back.

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