Report: Six frontrunner teams in Bo Horvat sweepstakes emerge, Canucks still not allowing extension talks

Once again, Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman began the 32 Thoughts Podcast with a conversation about the Canucks, and more specifically, Bo Horvat.

“I think this is intensified this week,” said Friedman. “I don’t know that it’s going to happen for sure. But I believe some teams have stepped up and indicated they’re serious.”

Friedman and Marek also mentioned that as of Friday morning, the Canucks have still not given teams permission to talk with Horvat’s agent about an extension. This is worrisome as the consensus feeling around a Horvat trade is that many teams would be much more interested in acquiring Horvat if they were able to lock him down with a contract extension.

There have been a handful of teams consistently involved in the Horvat trade rumours — Marek and Friedman talked about the interested teams and listed the Seattle Kraken, Minnesota Wild (only as a rental), Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, and Carolina Hurricanes. The two also discussed a wild card team — the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Kraken have been a team that has picked up some heat of late. They have picks and some prospects that could make this deal happen.

“One thing I think about Seattle is, Seattle would do it to keep him,” said Friedman. “And one thing about the Kraken is, I want to stress, if they’re in, [it]makes sense for them to do it and that earlier, so they have him and they can start talking to him [about an extension].”

Marek also mentioned that one thing they all know about Jim Rutherford is that he doesn’t like to wait for the trade deadline.

It will be interesting to see if that philosophy changes because the Canucks are sellers and not buyers, but it’s clear that Horvat has gained a ton of interest and the Canucks can now begin to weigh out the options of their potential returns. Friedman also said that he doesn’t believe the Canucks are rushing to get a trade done but he believes that some teams have gotten a bit more serious.