October 6, 2024

Breaking: Canucks are in Dilemma of yet making another Deals

NHL teams have one last chance to buy and sell players ahead of the playoff push with Friday’s trade deadline. Follow this blog for updates.

Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, back centre, and assistant coach Adam Foote, back right, listen as assistant coach Mike Yeo, back left, talks to Conor Garland (8), Tyler Myers (57), Ilya Mikheyev (65) and Teddy Blueger (53) during a San Jose Sharks timeout during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver,
The NHL’s trade deadline is Friday but, as has become the norm in recent seasons, teams aren’t waiting to pull off their blockbuster deals.

Between now and noon PT on March 8, we’ll include news and notes about the moves that the Canucks and their rivals make — or don’t make.

What makes new Canucks coach Rick Tocchet tick? | The Province

Canucks on a mission?

Will the Canucks make another big move at the deadline or will they stand pat?

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, they hadn’t made a trade, though they’ve been linked to talks with several teams, including the Pittsburgh Penguins about bringing Jake Guentzel west and the Boston Bruins about shipping out Elias Lindholm east.

Lindholm, of course, was added by the Canucks in a January trade, but he’s struggled to make an impact so far. It’s far from a certainty he gets moved, but the Bruins did try to add Lindholm before so it’s not a big surprise the Canucks have apparently buzzed the Bs about possibly trading him again.

But if they were to do so, it’s guaranteed to be aligned with another trade with another team to bring in a top-six quality winger, like Guentzel.

The challenge with adding Guentzel is there are a lot of potential suitors — who wouldn’t want a winger with his pedigree — but he’s also got a substantial cap hit and the Canucks, unless they made a concurrent move to clear space, would have to get the Penguins to retain a large portion of his salary.

 

Of course, if you do look at how president Jim Rutherford has operated in the past, you can’t help but think he’s advised GM Patrik Allvin, who is doing the leg work on the roster, to get his big deals done early, rather than late.

Rutherford told Postmedia about his approach to the trade deadline earlier on Wednesday.

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