As you read these words, the 2022 Trade Deadline inches closer. It’s now less than a week away, and all news relating to the Vancouver Canucks seems to have reached…a standstill.

From a fan’s perspective, that’s probably a good thing. The old regime was a little too leaky for most folks’ liking, and that resulted in everyone in the hockey world always having a pretty good idea what the Canucks were up to — including every rival GM.

Patrik Allvin and Co. seem to play their cards much closer to the vest than Jim Benning and Co. did, and that’s largely for the best.

Unless, that is, one is a Canucks blogger with a particular penchant for covering the trade rumour beat.

If that’s your situation, you might find the lack of legitimate rumours a little frustrating. But, you know what they say: if you can’t beat the rumour-mongers, join ‘em. So, we’ve gone ahead and collected our own official trade rumours* from our own trusted sources** that are all definitely going to happen***.

Enjoy****!

*Utter speculation

Justin Barron

If your ears didn’t perk up when you heard that Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was hitting the LTIR for an indeterminate amount of time just ahead of the 2022 Trade Deadline, you haven’t been paying attention to how things are done in the modern NHL. Clearly, contentious Colorado is going to use that suddenly-available cap space to solidify their roster, and Miller looks like their best bet. Whether he’s on the wing or at 2C, Miller turns an already-potent Avalance offense into the league’s best — but he won’t come cheap.

In order to get the deal done, the Canucks squeeze Colorado’s very best prospect out of them, using Byram’s recent health concerns as leverage and hoping beyond hope that he will bounce back. Then, because Byram’s a leftie, they demand a decent RHD prospect in Barron on top of it all. It’s a big ask, but the Avs should be happy to pay it to become the runaway number one Cup contender.

EDIT: This bit was written prior to the Josh Manson trade, but it could still work with a little retention on the Vancouver side and a draft pick of some sort on the Colorado side.

2022 Third Round Pick

We’ve been barking up this tree for a while, so we’ve decided to add a few twists to the mix. In order to maximize return here, we’ve got the Canucks retaining 50% on Miller AND throwing the UFA Motte into the mix as a high-value sweetener. Both turn the Rangers from playoff contender to genuine championship material.
We hope it’s enough to finally pry Schneider, one of the best young RHDs in hockey, away from the Rangers, along with a few other goodies. Schneider and a late first covers Miller’s value, we figure, with Kravtsov and the third combining to cover the cost of retention and the addition of Motte. There’s a lot of moving pieces here, but the Canucks should come out ahead by demanding Schneider by any means necessary — and bending the trade around that demand as is needed.

2022 First Round Pick

There have been rumours of Boston pursuing Garland for months now, and while we are loathe to give the Bruins what they want, we’re happy to rip them off. The Canucks have no real reason to part with the undervalued, underpaid Garland unless someone really makes it worth their while, and the Bruins are one of the teams best situated to do so.

The offer starts with Vancouver Giants star Lysell, and goes up from there. In a vacuum, Lysell is probably fairly close in value to Garland, but this isn’t a vacuum. Unless the Bruins are willing to throw another major piece, like their late first, onto the pile, the Canucks can safely walk away, and hold on to Garland for another year or four.

2022 Second Round Pick

Another possibility is moving Garland in a good ol’-fashioned hockey trade. Severson’s is a name that has been linked to Vancouver a couple of times already, and — as a big-bodied, two-way top-pairing RHD — it’s not hard to see why.

Garland for Severson straight-up might be workable if not for the contract disparity. As Severson only has a single year left on his contract after this one, the Canucks are taking on some considerable risk in the exchange. To cover that, we’re hoping that the Devils can throw in a worthy prospect like the hulking Bahl and a decent pick, like their highly-placed 2022 second rounder, which might as well be a late first.

Filip Hallander

Speaking of hockey trades, here’s another one, and it’s a doozy. We can’t take full credit for coming up with this particular proposal, because it’s really an amalgamation of rumours that have circulated ever since Allvin and Jim Rutherford came over to the Canucks from the Pittsburgh organization.

Boeser would look really nice on Evgeni Malkin’s wing, and the Penguins have been seeking out a pure goal-scorer for some time.

On the other side of it, Rutherford has acquired Kapanen on two other occasions, so there’s history there, and Marino looks like a perfect fit for the Canucks’ bereft right side blueline. The only issue is the Penguins dealing away Marino right before a playoff run, and that’s where Myers comes in. In adding him to the deal, the Penguins stay competitive now, while the Canucks gain a little salary flexibility and arguably upgrade.

We look at this one as: Boeser>Kapanen and Myers<Marino, with the pick and prospect meant to compensate for Boeser being the singular best player in the deal.

2022 Second Round Pick

The LA Kings are in a real interesting spot. They’ve got a bunch of trusty veterans still around from their Cup runs, along with an overstocked cupboard full of high-value prospects ready to burst onto the scene. The Kings could easily wait it out, but they’re in a position to make some noise in the playoffs right now, so why not sell off some of that surplus to address some immediate needs?

With all those young puck distributors kicking around, Boeser looks like an excellent candidate to bridge the generational gap on the Kings. For the privilege of trading for and extending Boeser, the Canucks should ask the Kings to give up their second-best RHD prospect — Brandt Clarke isn’t going anywhere — along with one of their many B+-quality forward prospects in Kupari (or whoever else the Canucks’ brass likes best.) Demand an extra second round pick as a divisional tax, and call it a day.

The Kings were reportedly in on Tyler Toffoli before he got flipped to the Calgary Flames instead, so they’re clearly in the market for a nostalgic middle-six addition. If not Toffoli, then who better than his old linemate, Pearson?

Pearson has been having a hell of a season ever since Bruce Boudreau took over, and has been one of the Canucks’ best producers at even-strength. Combine that with Pearson’s defensive fortitude, and you’ve got a premium addition for the playoffs — if only he were a rental.
The remaining two years on Pearson’s contract probably hurts his return value a fair bit, but not enough to make him a negative asset. If the Canucks can get a B+ prospect that has fallen through the cracks on a deep team, like Anderson-Dolan, they should take it and run with it.

Tyler Benson

With that full NMC in place, Halak only moves if Halak wants to move. But we like to think that we could sell him on the idea of going to Edmonton and being the hero that finally allows to Oilers to make some noise in the playoffs and stop wasting the primes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Who doesn’t want a statue built in their honour outside of Rogers Place?

With the job of convincing Halak done, it’s down to the Oilers to convince the Canucks to help out one of their greatest rivals. The Canucks shouldn’t make it easy on the Oilers by any means, and so the bidding for Halak starts at a second round pick. Even if he hasn’t played all that well of late, he’s still a better option than Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith. If the Canucks can get a former Giant in Benson thrown in as a sweetener, all the better.

2022 Third Round Pick

Nobody really wants Schenn to be moved, but if he has to go anywhere, Florida looks like the best destination.

The word on the street is that the Panthers want to add size and PK prowess to their blueline, no matter the cost. They can do that AND troll their regional rivals a little bit by acquiring Schenn, who spent the last two postseasons winning two Stanley Cups for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Canucks have no real need to let Schenn go for anything less than a second round pick. Since the Panthers don’t have one this year, the Canucks could accept a 2023 second round pick…IF Florida were willing to add something on top of it to compensate for the delay. A 2022 third rounder might be rich, but then adding Schenn is a playoff luxury.

There are rumours abound that the Lightning are heavily pursuing Motte, seeing him as this year’s Barclay Goodrow. Unlike Goodrow, Motte is an expiring UFA, so don’t expect a first round pick plus in return for him, but that doesn’t mean that the Canucks won’t get good value.

In fact, we’ve got a pretty simple solution to propose. Cal Foote is a massive, smooth-skating RHD with a two-way profile who was drafted in the first round five years ago and has yet to fully crack the Lightning roster. Flip him for Motte, have the Canucks retain half so that there’s room under the cap to pursue another depth defender, and go win another Cup.

Vancouver fans would be happy seeing Motte win a championship, and in enjoying Foote for several seasons thereafter.

Here’s our wildest prediction of all, and yet it stands perhaps the best chance of coming true of any proposal on this list.

The Canucks could very well do absolutely nothing at the 2022 Trade Deadline.

Boeser is an RFA, and Miller’s contract doesn’t expire for another year. Garland is signed for four more years beyond this one. Even Schenn is signed through next year.

Halak is a pending UFA, but he has that NMC. Motte is the only pending UFA who the Canucks might “need” to sell, but then he’s an integral part of the team’s penalty kill, and the Canucks are still very much in the mix for the playoffs.

There’s a real chance that the Canucks simply choose to continue pursuing the postseason in 2021/22, and save any further decisions for the offseason. Aside from Halak and Motte, the Canucks will still have a chance to trade every player we’ve listed above in the summer, if that’s what they’d prefer.

In reality, we probably won’t see March 21 come and go without the Canucks making any transactions. Maybe it will be Brad Hunt or Alex Chiasson flipped for a late pick, or a late pick being shipped out for a depth defender or two.

But there’s a real chance that the 2022 Trade Deadline passes without the Canucks moving any of their major tradeable assets, and that’s not even necessarily a bad outcome.
It might just be part of the process.