Seravalli: Could Canucks’ Brock Boeser be a fit for the New Jersey Devils?
2 years ago
There’s been no shortage of rumours surrounding the Vancouver Canucks’ players as the March 21st trade deadline quickly approaches.
Jim Rutherford has been honest in sharing his opinion and vision for this team ever since he arrived in December of 2021.
There’s a mess to clean up, and Rutherford has been tasked with doing it.
A big part of that is freeing up cap space, and a way the club seems ready to do that is through pulling off a trade in the near future.
Whether that means the team will be active before the deadline or during the offseason remains to be seen, but there is no shortage of teams calling the Canucks about their assets.
The club has listened to teams’ offers for almost everyone not named Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, or Thatcher Demko.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has reported that the market has cooled off considerably on J.T. Miller, and that at this point in time, it actually seems more unlikely than likely that Miller is moved at the deadline.
In the latest edition of his Trade Targets column, Seravalli noted that there may be a new front-runner trying to acquire Boeser.
The New Jersey Devils.
Here’s what Seravalli had to say:
Scoop: The rumor mill continues to turn with Boeser featuring prominently in conversations. With 11 goals in 27 games, seemingly no Canuck has benefitted more than Boeser from Bruce Boudreau being behind the bench in Vancouver. Keep in mind: Jim Rutherford has repeatedly stressed that creating salary-cap flexibility is key. There are other roster players that can achieve space and freedom, but there is a sense the Canucks are not sold Boeser’s play will be commensurate with the large qualifying offer due to him this summer, which makes him a prime candidate to move. It’s entirely possible that J.T. Miller, who is much more of a driver than Boeser, remains in Vancouver and Boeser is on his way to a new team. Could New Jersey be a fit for Boeser?
With Jack Hughes leading the way, the Devils are a young and fast team (Canucks fans saw this firsthand quite recently) and are looking to turn the corner in the near future.
Unlike most teams looking to be buyers at the deadline, the Devils aren’t in a position to make a push for the playoffs this season.
Rather, they’re looking to add with long-term goals in mind, and buying low on a player who many believe to have legitimate 40-goal upside in Boeser is a smart move.
Sure, they’ll likely have to pay that qualifying offer, but the idea that Boeser will be overpaid once he signs his QO will contribute further to the reason that an acquiring team would almost certainly be able to buy low.
To read more about the pros and cons of trading Boeser — and why we ultimately think it’s not a great idea — click here.
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