The new Vancouver Canucks’ management regime has made a few things clear.
First and foremost, they’ve been upfront in their assessment that this team isn’t fast enough, and being on the outside of the playoff picture while capped out is not a good place to be.
Simply put, the Canucks’ brass knows change is needed, and both general manager Patrik Allvin and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford have made it clear that clearing out cap space is near the top of their to-do list.
With this comes some tough decisions, and it appears as though forward Brock Boeser could be the player who finds himself moving on in the near future.
Industry chatter has certainly picked up on Boeser, as many believe the Canucks are very open to the idea of trading the American sharpshooter as the March 21st trade deadline quickly approaches.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has Boeser at number five on his latest Trade Targets list, and joined Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650 today to expand on the reasoning why.
“Part of this living and breathing list is gathering the intel from conversations around the league, and it’s really nothing new as opposed to what I’ve expressed previously,” said Seravalli. “It just seems more clear that if the Vancouver Canucks are making a move — and there’s no guarantee that that’s the case — that it seems like Brock Boeser is the most likely guy. That they’ve had enough conversations with teams around the league, that there’s been enough interest as well, that Brock Boeser really appears to be the guy that is the target from Vancouver.”
Additionally, John Shannon joined Donnie and Dhali – The Team and added that Boeser is at the top of the Canucks’ list to be traded, followed by goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who Shannon believes will waive his no-move clause to facilitate a trade out of Vancouver.
Boeser has 21 of his 30 points on the season in the 27 games he’s played since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach and despite having a $7.5 million qualifying offer waiting for him this offseason, there’s no shortage of teams ready to take a swing on the 2018 Calder Memorial Trophy runner-up.
