When you look at the Vancouver Canucks‘ current roster and line combinations, there is a pretty glaring hole at the centre position.
Currently, the top of the organizational depth chart looks something like this:
Elias Pettersson
Filip Chytil
Pius Suter
Teddy Blueger
Nils Aman
Aatu Räty
Not exactly an inspiring list of names.
Despite having a real three-headed monster in the form of Pettersson, Bo Horvat, and JT Miller not all that long ago, the Canucks addressed their then-glaring need of capable top four defencemen by moving out Horvat and Miller. What that’s left the Canucks with is a significantly weakened centre group.
According to Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin, that’s something the club will “definitely” address this offseason. Here’s a snippet from Allvin’s conversation with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun:
The Miller trade did bring in Filip Chytil, but it still remains an organizational priority this offseason to seek out another age-appropriate center.
“Yeah, definitely we’ll do that in the offseason, whether that’s through trade or free-agent signing,” Allvin said.
It doesn’t get much more clear than that.
The Canucks were reportedly in on 25-year-old centre Josh Norris, who is signed long term and was ultimately dealt to the Buffalo Sabres in the Trade Deadline swap that saw the Ottawa Senators acquire Dylan Cozens.
That might give some indication of the types of centres the Canucks could be interested in — ones who are young and come with some cost certainty.
This year’s free agent forward crop doesn’t feature many true top six centres, so if the Canucks are going to address their needs at centre, it may have to come via the trade market, as Allvin alluded to.
Which NHL centre would you like to see the Canucks acquire this offseason? Let us know in the comments section below!
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