NHL
Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland and Evander Kane of the Vancouver Canucks chat during a stoppage in play. Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images
The Vancouver Canucks are one of a small handful of confirmed sellers going into the NHL trade deadline.
Vancouver is at the start of a rebuilding effort that may take years, especially given how complicated it’s likely to be for the Canucks to monetize their NHL-level holdings. To a man, just about every single Canucks player has underperformed this season, the club has some significant assets that come with massive levels of injury risk and nearly all of Vancouver’s veteran players have some manner of no-move or no-trade protection built into their contracts.
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In the wake of the Kiefer Sherwood deal, the Canucks still have some useful players remaining in their lineup, but they just don’t have that many great trade chips left.
As the NHL Olympic roster freeze and the March 6 trade deadline approach, let’s take inventory of what players remain on the Canucks’ books and forecast what fans should expect based on a mix of analysis, reporting and informed speculation.
Please note that all salary, term and bonus information and any notes on no-trade or no-movement protection are sourced from CapWages.
Demko’s status is up in the air again, with the star netminder currently working through his second extended absence due to injury of the season.
It’s his seventh extended injury absence since he sustained a lower-body injury in March 2024, less than two years ago, at the tail end of his Vezina-quality campaign.
Since then, Demko has effectively sustained an injury in one of every eight starts he’s made. Given that concerning recent track record, the fact that Demko’s three year, $8.5 million per season extension won’t even kick in until July 1, and the changes to the Long-Term Injured Reserve rules which limit the amount of relief teams receive in-season when a player is hurt (unless that player is ruled out for the entirety of the season and playoffs), Demko is probably one of the most complicated players in the league to even try to trade at this juncture.
The Canucks are listening on everybody, but that’s largely circumstantial in Hronek’s case.
Vancouver has little interest in trading Hronek, who has been their best skater this season, short of a rival team tendering a truly silly, fantasy hockey offer in a bid to acquire the Canucks’ top pair, right-handed defender.
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Even if that were to occur, Hronek has a full no-move clause, and there’s been no indication that he’d even be open to being dealt.
Lankinen has a newborn, has taken a leave this season to tend to a family matter and has a full no-move clause. He wouldn’t be moving in-season even if the Canucks were inclined to consider it, which I don’t believe they are.
Chytil is nearing a return from a concussion that he sustained in the first period of Vancouver’s sixth game of this season. Hopefully, Chytil’s return to play goes smoothly, and the skilled pivot can finish this season without further injury or incident.
Chytil, 26, has appeared in just 72 combined games across the past two and a half seasons, dating back to the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. With one year remaining on his contract and a $4.4375 million cap hit, Chytil will have to demonstrate that he’s going to be able to stay in the lineup to be moveable at this juncture.
There would be significant interest on the trade market if the Canucks were willing to consider flipping Rossi, who was acquired from the Minnesota Wild as part of the Quinn Hughes trade.
Vancouver, however, is eager to have the opportunity to evaluate its group (and its young players) in an environment where the Canucks are icing four genuine NHL-level centres. And Rossi is still at least a week away from returning from injury.
Rossi is going to get a lot of opportunity in Vancouver over the next few seasons, and I don’t see the club considering trading the 24-year-old before the deadline.
A big, rugged veteran defender, Myers would have legitimate value if he were willing to join a contending team and take another shot at winning the Stanley Cup.
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Myers, however, is a family man who is deeply rooted in Vancouver and the province of British Columbia. And he has a full no-move clause.
It would be a big surprise if Myers were to even consider waiving his NMC to facilitate a trade this spring.
The centrepiece of the Hughes return, Buium is Vancouver’s highest upside U23 asset in the organization (outside of its 2026 first-round pick). He’s a critical piece of the future and won’t be dealt in the short-term.
Willander has had an up-and-down rookie season in a difficult environment. The 21-year-old right-handed defender is regarded as a future core piece and isn’t going anywhere.
The Canucks are starting to get excited about Öhgren’s potential, based on his performance since he was acquired from Minnesota in the Hughes trade. They’re more likely to increase his minutes significantly down the stretch than they are to consider trading him.
Though Pettersson has seen his NHL-level progress stall a bit in a far less organized defensive environment, the club is enamoured with his assertive physical game and the high character way he conducts himself off the ice. He won’t be going anywhere.
Boeser has endured a difficult season, including a lengthy goal-scoring dry spell during which the winger has scored just two goals in 30 games dating back to Nov. 14.
The Canucks have been disappointed with Boeser’s performance, and may even have a sense of buyer’s remorse on the seven-year, $50.75 million contract ($7.25 million AAV) that they signed him to back on July 1. However, there’s no sense in trading a stand-up citizen and a talented goal scorer like Boeser at a low ebb in his value, and anyway, Boeser has a full no-move clause.
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Pettersson would be a coveted asset if he were to be made available, but the 29-year-old blueliner is valued internally for his maturity and competitive motor (both on the ice and in practice environments). He also has a full no-move clause and just last year agreed to a six-year extension to play in this city.
Räty has struggled to gain a foothold and an extended opportunity under Adam Foote this season and has been a regular healthy scratch. Whenever he’s been counted on, however, he has generally produced quality two-way results. It’s inexplicable that he’s never had a stretch of 10 games or so in which he received the sorts of opportunities gifted to Lukas Reichel back in November (when the games were much higher stakes).
If the organization views Räty similarly to the way that Foote seems to, and isn’t sure that he’s making the sort of progress the club has hoped he might, then perhaps the club would consider monetizing him at the trade deadline. It’s rare for a 23-year-old to win draws like a genuine faceoff specialist, and he has a very appealing contract with some term remaining. He might have surprising value given the premium teams around the league are currently (and rightly) placing on centre depth.
Karlsson has been one of Vancouver’s best players in this dismal season and recently signed a relatively lucrative two-year contract extension. The Canucks seem to view the 26-year-old as a transitional option as they work their way through the rebuild, and aren’t likely to trade him this season.
Sasson’s speed has made him one of Vancouver’s most dynamic counterattacking threats, and he’s seemed to cement himself as an everyday NHL-level player, even earning a two-year contract extension in December.
Sasson is probably best suited to playing the wing long-term, and the club seems likely to keep him around as a depth contributor through the leaner rebuilding years.
Höglander has shown some flashes of the buzzsaw-type puck battle winner he can be since returning from an extended injury in early December, but he’s largely been used as a depth piece and has struggled mightily to produce (he picked up his first point of the season on Monday night).
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Höglander’s high motor, relative youthfulness and supporting offensive skill would likely interest some teams, and the Canucks certainly aren’t utilizing Höglander as if he were a key part of their next wave of young players at the moment.
O’Connor has been a solid defensive winger, penalty killer and counterattacking goal scorer in his first full Canucks season. His combination of size, skill and penalty killing acumen, in addition to his reasonable $2.5 million cap hit with term, could make him a marketable asset. He’d certainly add a lot to a contending team’s lineup, although like so many of his teammates, O’Connor possesses a modified (12-team) no-trade clause, which could complicate Vancouver’s ability to return maximum value for his services if the Canucks were inclined to trade him.
Pettersson has bounced back somewhat in terms of his production and his defensive play, but it’s been nearly two years since we last saw the version of Pettersson that was a dynamic superstar-level offensive producer and a fringe top-10 centre in this league. It’s absolutely fair to wonder if that version of Pettersson is ever returning at this point.
The Canucks think that Pettersson has performed to the level of a second-line centre, and his usage in terms of both matchup burden and ice time reflects that. Do the Canucks believe that Pettersson can work through this and become a superstar-level performer again? Or does the club, on some level, want a fresh start in rebuilding, absent a player that’s emblematic of the dysfunction that tore apart its 2023-24 core group?
We’ll have to wait to see how this one turns out. Vancouver isn’t shopping Pettersson aggressively at this juncture, and it’s not at all clear that he’d even be willing to waive his full no-move clause in-season. That said, there’s some credible reporting that’s beginning to surround Pettersson, and I believe the Canucks would seriously consider an offer if it made sense for all sides at this point.
If Vancouver is really serious about starting a new era and rebuilding aggressively, trading Pettersson would be as significant a declaration to that effect as the club could make.
The admittedly streaky goal-scoring winger and power-play net-front specialist has had a tough season. DeBrusk has fallen off as a two-way player, has struggled mightily to manufacture goals at five-on-five and was a healthy scratch about a month ago.
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DeBrusk has close ties on a number of fronts to Canada’s West Coast and a full no-move clause. Even if DeBrusk were willing to be dealt, he’d likely have a restrained list of teams that he’d be willing to consider.
While DeBrusk’s challenges this season may mitigate his value somewhat, he’s an elite skater with a long history of raising his game in the playoffs. There are contenders that would absolutely pay market price for DeBrusk if the Canucks (and the player) were willing to explore those options at length prior to the trade deadline.
Garland signed an extension in the summer that won’t kick in until July 1. At the moment, Garland doesn’t have any variety of trade protection. Beginning on July 1, Garland will hold a full no-move clause through the 2028-29 campaign.
The hardworking 29-year-old winger is probably Vancouver’s most important standalone play driver, but his form has dipped significantly since Hughes — who was Garland’s best friend on the team — was traded. Garland and his family are also expecting, as he revealed on “Hockey Night in Canada: After Hours” last weekend, which is an additional wrinkle to consider.
Garland’s value is somewhat polarized around the league, but he’s been an effective play-driving winger with significant playmaking value and proved definitively during the 2024 playoffs that his size doesn’t inhibit him in the least in producing offence at the heaviest time of year. He’d return significant future value if the Canucks were to consider working with him to facilitate a trade ahead of the deadline.
Was it a coincidence that Kane played his most energetic, physical game of the year on the same day that Sherwood was traded to the San Jose Sharks?
The 34-year-old winger has been a totally peripheral player for the Canucks this season, but does have a long track record of playoff success and a physical profile that teams typically value adding to their lineup when dreaming of making a playoff run. The market for Kane, however, has been lukewarm to this point, and it’s vital for both the Canucks and the player that a playoff-bound team with interest is identified before the deadline.
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Blueger is a solid fourth-line centre who returned a third-round pick as a trade deadline rental only a few years ago. Though injuries have limited Blueger significantly this season, NHL teams are thirsty to add centre depth, and Blueger is a high-end fourth-line centre type with significant penalty killing value. If Blueger can return to the lineup and play well, perhaps have a big moment or two for Latvia at the 2026 Olympic tournament, then the Canucks should have a real shot at returning a mid-round pick for Blueger.
Kämpf was brought in midseason to stabilize Vancouver’s centre options, and he’s regularly been utilized as a first-line forward since joining the Canucks.
While the seams have shown when Kämpf’s minutes have spiked, he’s still a sturdy defensive centre capable of helping a playoff-bound team in a depth role (either on the fourth line or as a 13th forward). Perhaps the club can return a late-round pick from a centre-needy team.
Thomas Drance covers the Vancouver Canucks as a senior writer for The Athletic. He is also the co-host of the Canucks Hour on Sportsnet 650. His career in hockey media — as a journalist, editor and author — has included stops at Canucks Army, The Score, Triumph Publishing, the Nation Network and Sportsnet. Previously, he was vice president, public relations and communications, for the Florida Panthers for three seasons. Follow Thomas on Twitter @ThomasDrance
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