With the trade deadline fast approaching, plenty of different Vancouver Canucks players have seen their names tossed around in trade rumors. From Brock Boeser to J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat, it seems as if every skater on the team has been mentioned at some point as a possible trade candidate. Jim Rutherford is known for his aggressiveness in the trade market and with a lack of prospects and salary cap space, trading is going to be one of the main avenues for the Canucks to improve their situation.

Tyler Myers is someone who has found himself in the news recently after reporter John Shannon mentioned his name on Sekeres and Price. Myers is in the third year of a five-year contract that costs the Canucks $6 million against the cap. This season he has 14 points through 60 games and is averaging 22:15 minutes of ice time per game. While Myers is a contributor for the Canucks, his contract is outsized compared to his value, making him an easy trade candidate for the new Canucks regime to deal in order to free up cap space.

“It’s a big contract, it’s too long, and neither Patrik Allvin nor Jim Rutherford invented Tyler Myers as a Vancouver Canuck.” said Shannon while on the show.

One fact that complicates the Canucks trade talks is the fact that Myers has a no-trade clause for this season. According to PuckPedia, this is the last season that Myers has a no-trade clause before it shifts to a modified no-trade clause. On July 1st, 2022, Myers can submit a 10 team no-trade list. This complicates any trade that might happen at this deadline but does leave things open for a trade this offseason or beyond.

Obviously it takes two teams to make a trade happen and just because the Canucks might be shopping Tyler Myers, doesn’t mean that there are teams out there that are willing to take him on. On one hand, Myers arrives with a large salary cap hit and hasn’t shown much to deserve it during his time in Vancouver. On the other hand, Myers is a smooth skater for his size who has a 52.25 xGF% at 5-on-5 this season, third among Canucks defencemen who’ve played at least 300 minutes.

Myers is also a right-handed defenceman, one of the more valuable assets in the NHL. He eats minutes and is still a very serviceable player, just one who is overpaid. He’s had a solid year this year and it’s easy to imagine a team being interested in him despite the price tag, namely because of how difficult it is to find contributing RHD.

While it’s easy to imagine teams being interested, whatever assets being sent to the Canucks would likely not amount to much. The Canucks would likely only get a mid-round draft pick and they might need to add to Myers to complete the deal. So while we can say that there’s likely a trade market for Myers, as many of the top reporters have been hearing his name, the Canucks aren’t exactly looking at getting a bounty in return.

One question the Canucks need to ask themselves before dealing Myers is if he is worth more to the team than he could fetch in a trade. Considering any return for Myers would likely be negligible, the real benefit coming in the newfound cap space, is it worth it for the Canucks to trade one of their better right-handed defencemen?

Finding legitimate top-four right-shot defencemen is one of the hardest things to do in the NHL and it’s why those players are so coveted. Looking inside the Canucks organization, they’re short on RHD, and replacing Myers would be difficult. Fellow Canucks Army writer Stephen Roget tackled this idea earlier this year in this piece here that is well worth a read.

While Myers does eat plenty of minutes on the right-side for the Canucks and is a valuable piece in that regard, getting out of those last two seasons of this contract would be well worth it. Using the player cards generated by Dom Luszczyszyn at The Athletic, Myers’ on-ice results indicate he’s worth about $2 million a year, meaning that the Canucks are vastly overpaying. Cap space is the most valuable asset in a hard cap league, just look at the circumstances that led to the Canucks acquiring J.T. Miller, and dealing Myers should be a no-brainer to management if it’s an option.