Everyone had a good idea that the Vancouver Canucks’ search for a centre would continue eventually. Most just didn’t realize it would happen this early into the 2025-26 season.

The emergence of Braeden Cootes has perhaps changed the Canucks’ long-term needs at centre.  And beyond that, GM Patrik Allvin and Co. seemed interested in exploring the short-term option of Filip Chytil taking on the 2C role.

Through the first five games of the season, things looked to be off to a fine start. The team was performing well enough, and so was Chytil, who already had three goals on the season. Then came Game 6 of the year and a late, useless hit from Tom Wilson that knocked Chytil out of the lineup for what could be a significant time.

As of this writing, we know little other than that Chytil has been placed on Injured Reserve. But given his extensive history of head injuries, it is safe to assume he’ll be out for a while. And that makes it safe to assume that the Canucks’ quest for another centre – which had been put on pause – is about to start right back up again.

Minus Chytil, the Canucks are down to centre depth of Elias Pettersson, Aatu Räty, Max Sasson, and Teddy Blueger (who is also injured at the moment). That’s nowhere near good enough for a team with designs on the 2026 postseason. The Canucks may need to act relatively fast here – but, then, which centres might be available for trade immediately and this early into the year?

These, we think.

We’ll start with the top, and only premium option on our list. Most centres of a truly high quality are currently locked into rosters that still have some hopes on the 2025-26 season. The one exception right now might be Kadri. Not only are the Flames already off to a dismal start, but Kadri himself is playing good hockey while getting next to nothing from his teammates. That’s got to be a frustrating situation for one of the sport’s most competitive players.

From the Flames’ perspective, there may be a desire to deal Kadri before any further drop-off takes some of the shine off his remaining four years of contract.

Make no mistake: Kadri would still be far more expensive to acquire than anyone else on this list, and that’s not including the difficulty of accommodating his cap hit. But at the same time, that’s fitting, because Kadri is by far the best centre that is currently and readily available.

Pageau has the distinction of being perhaps the third- or fourth-best pending UFA centre, and probably as the top centre who is definitely going to be traded this year. We’re sure the Islanders are already salivating at the thought of what they can get for him closer to the Trade Deadline.

But the Canucks have been known to jump the queue on acquiring rental types before. So there is a possibility they can make it worth the NYI’s while now, and bring someone like Pageau into the fold. It’d have to cost close to a first-round pick, however, because that’s about what the Isles will get at the deadline.

Pageau is hardly a 2C, but he did get 42 points last year and is solid in all aspects of the game, so he’d certainly constitute an improvement on the Canucks’ centre depth. And best of all, he comes with no future contract commitment.

Novak isn’t exactly a household name, but he had a run of success in Nashville from his sophomore season onward, in which he either scored or paced for about 40 points. That includes 43 points in 51 games his second year.

Novak’s game has fallen off a cliff since arriving in Pittsburgh. But that’s a tiny sample size that only runs eight games at the moment. There’s every chance he still has some offence hiding inside him, and where else are you going to get a 40-point possibility at centre for $3.5 million or less?

Best of all, the Penguins are a little heavy on spare forwards right now, so they may be looking to outright get rid of Novak. That reduces any asking price on him and gives him a shot at being the best bang-for-buck option on this list.

One might look at Reichel’s stat line of three points in four games to start the 2025-26 season and think he’s finally figured it out. But someone has to score in Chicago, and Reichel’s 9:35 average ice-time makes it clear that he has yet to earn the coaching staff’s trust. An eventual trade seems all but inevitable for Reichel.

He’s got enough skill in his game to be an intriguing breakout candidate away from the dreadful Blackhawks system. He would, at the very least, carry with him a buriable cap hit and couldn’t possibly demand much of a trade return.

Call Reichel the lowest-risk, highest-yield option on this list. But also know that he’s a project that would entail plenty of work for Adam Foote and Co.

Now, here is someone we are quite sure the Red Wings want to get rid of. Not only has his production taken a nose-dive, but Compher is now actively blocking the progression of several younger, more exciting Detroit forwards.

Compher scored as many as 52 points three seasons ago and isn’t so old at 30 that he couldn’t mount some sort of productive comeback. But getting back to the quality of play that made him ‘worth’ $5.1 million as a UFA? That’s more of a stretch. Good thing we think this is the one case on the list where the trading team might be willing to retain salary just to ensure they can part with the player.

Compher at half price looks like a much better bet, even if he costs twice as much to acquire.

Ross is a player we know has already expressed a desire to be traded away from the Avalanche, specifically to play more at centre. That bodes well. What doesn’t bode well is that Colton is struggling to put up any offence at all in 2025-26.

He’s typically been a player who paces between 30 and 40 points on a season, and it wouldn’t take all that much of a comeback for him to get back on that track this year. Perhaps more is even possible were Colton to be given a real shot at some top-six minutes, something he’s rarely ever had before but would receive in Vancouver. At the very least, that cap hit is low enough to never become an albatross, even if Colton doesn’t work out.

Henrique is a useful veteran, but we can’t imagine that the cap-strapped Oilers are happy paying him $3 million to occupy their fourth line. Were they able to move him right now, we imagine they would, and that they wouldn’t ask for that much in return.

Henrique would be a fill-in at best, but he would bring some savvy to the table. That said, he somehow has a full no-movement clause, so any trade would have to be his choice. It’s hard to see him wishing to exit himself from a roster with designs on a third straight Cup Final.