With Guentzel, Toffoli, and Zucker off the board, what names are still available for the Canucks to trade for?
1 month ago
It’s officially NHL Trade Deadline day, and even though names aren’t necessarily flying off the board just yet, the two biggest names and potential Canucks targets on the market have started to fly out the door.
Those who are following along on our Trade Deadline live blog will know that Jake Guentzel and Tyler Toffoli are officially off the board. The Carolina Hurricanes picked up Jake Guentzel last night, and Tyler Toffoli is the first key name off the market on Friday morning.
As first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger, Toffoli is going to the Winnipeg Jets. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported that the return going back to New Jersey is two draft picks. Those picks are a second and third round pick, and the Devils retained 50% of Toffoli’s contract.
Toffoli was among the biggest targets left on the trade board, coming in at the number one spot on Frank Seravalli’s Friday trade board over at Daily Faceoff.
As we saw later in the morning, Arizona traded Jason Zucker to the Nashville Predators for a sixth round pick.
So who is still available?
Taking a look at Seravalli’s trade board, the top names among wingers remaining are Reilly Smith, Max Pacioretty, Pavel Buchnevich, and Frank Vatrano.
Reilly Smith
Smith is currently having a down year in Pittsburgh, his first season as a Penguin. Before that, he’s been a fairly consistent 20-goal scorer, and put up 26 goals and 30 assists through 78 games with the Vegas Golden Knights last season.
Perhaps more intriguing is the 14 points Smith scored through Vegas’ 22 playoff games en route to winning the Stanley Cup last season. Smith is set to become an unrestricted free agent, but has expressed displeasure with the idea of playing in Canada. It would be surprising to see the Canucks pull the trigger on this rental.
Max Pacioretty
Pacioretty’s $2 million cap hit makes him a bit of an intriguing target. He’s tallied three goals and 12 assists through 26 games with the Washington Capitals this season. At 35 years old, Pacioretty is a veteran presence that the Canucks might look at in a similar way they’re looking at Phil Kessel.
UPDATE: Frank Seravalli is reporting that Pacioretty is staying in Washington.
Pavel Buchnevich
Now, to this point, the Canucks have made it clear they’re unwilling to part with Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Tom Willander, and even Elias Pettersson 2.0. With the lean years of the OEL buyout on the horizon, they need to get some impact players in on entry-level deals or other low-cost, high-value players. As tempting as it is to go all in, this management regime is clearly keeping an eye on the future to some extent.
But there’s one player who’s low-cost and high-value that they might feel it’s worth parting ways with their top prospects to acquire. Pavel Buchnevich might garner the greatest trade return of anyone if he’s moved at the deadline, and that will have a lot to do with the fact that he’s signed for both this season and next for $5.8 million. With reports that St. Louis may retain 50% of the deal, Buchnevich at $2.9 million has plenty of value on the trade market. Buchnevich has tallied 24 goals and 24 assists through 61 games with the Blues this season. Here’s what Seravalli had to say about him:
“The Blues are willing to “get creative” and retain half on Buchnevich, which is tantalizing. Is there a more unheralded point-per-game player in the league than Pavel Buchnevich? Hard to imagine. Buchnevich has 191 points in 197 games since arriving in St. Louis. It was a shrewd move then by GM Doug Armstrong to seize on the New York Rangers’ inability to pay him as an RFA. He cost just a second-round pick and Sammy Blais. Now, the prevailing thought among rival GMs is that Armstrong might cash in on Buchnevich before having to give him the next big raise. Because Buchnevich has played himself into a longer-term deal in the $7.5 to $8 million range per season. In the meantime, he’s more valuable to a team for two playoff runs at just $5.8 million than he is the Blues.”
Buchnevich would be a great fit on the Canucks, but he’d undoubtedly cost a ton to acquire. Perhaps the fact he’s not set to become a UFA like Guentzel and Toffoli make him more appetizing? We’d be surprised, but nothing was quite as surprising as the Canucks going out and getting their guy in Filip Hronek last season.
Frank Vatrano
Like Buchnevich, the fact that Frank Vatrano is signed through next season at a favourable cap hit is what makes him a potentially intriguing target. Vatrano can play centre and wing, and played with the Canucks stars at the NHL All-Star game earlier this year.
Vatrano is signed through next season at $3.65 million and has 29 goals and 20 assists through 62 games with Anaheim this season. He’d be a great fit on the Canucks, and it will be interesting to see if he’s the Canucks’ last attempt at adding a top six winger before the trade deadline.
The other guys
Of course, the next tier of wingers is a bit less appetizing, but names like Pat Maroon, who I wondered if the Canucks would be interested in, are already off the board. After that, there are players like Connor Dewar, Alex Barabanov, Colin Blackwell, Arthur Kaliyev, Jack Roslovic, Luke Kunin, Alex Texier, Jordan Greenway, Dominik Kubalik, and Kevin LaBanc lower on the trade targets list.
At the time of this writing, there’s just under two hours remaining until the NHL Trade Deadline, and the Canucks have yet to make any moves.
You can follow along on our live blog by clicking here! You can watch the Daily Faceoff Live Trade Deadline Special below:
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