Three Vancouver Canucks were listed on Daily Faceoff’s latest Trade Targets list.
The list, created by NHL insider Frank Seravalli, is an ever-changing list that lists which players around the league are most likely to get traded. The big story with the list’s latest edition is that Winnipeg Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois skyrocketed to the number one spot on the list.
But for Canucks fans, the name at number eight on the list will be the first that catches your eye. Here’s what Seravalli said about Conor Garland, who also wears number eight!
Scoop: The Canucks are in salary cap jail and they know it. The rest of their summer plans cannot be enacted until they free up salary cap space, and they’ve been actively checking prices on Garland as their preference to move to alleviate their cap concerns. Garland, who played for Rick Tocchet in Arizona, is a scrappy but undersized winger who has struggled to find a comfortable fit in the Lower Mainland. With three years left at nearly $5 million, will a team take a flier? He’s essentially a free asset, as the Canucks have found teams that are asking for assets in return to take him off their hands.
Lower down the list is JT Miller at number eleven:
Scoop: The way Miller closed out the season under new coach Rick Tocchet, it’s easy to envision him in the Canucks’ opening night lineup in October. He posted 41 points in 35 games under Tocchet, who will have no problem managing Miller’s challenging locker room presence. Yet, we know that the Canucks were deep in talks with the Penguins to move Miller before the deadline. Those fizzled and now Pittsburgh’s regime has changed. Has that trade partner evaporated? How much will the Canucks push to move him before his “no-trade” clause kicks in on July 1? They could desperately use the cap flexibility. You have to allow for the possibility in a depressed free agent market that a team will covet Miller enough to make a play.
Finally, in the 27th spot of the list is defenceman Tyler Myers:
Scoop: Myers is a trade that might not materialize right at the beginning of the summer – if at all. Keep an eye on the $5 million signing bonus due. The belief is Myers’ bonus is due to be paid in September, shortly before training camp, which would leave him with just $1 million in salary to be paid after that during the course of the regular season. For any team interested acquiring team, there’s little incentive to pick up that tab when you know the Canucks are on the hook for it. That means a trade could come together shortly after it’s paid, though it also makes him a heck of deadline commodity.
