Nine defencemen who would be way better trade targets for the Canucks than Oliver Ekman-Larsson

By this humble writer’s reckoning, Jim Benning and the Vancouver Canucks should be working, more-or-less, with the following set of qualifiers, in roughly this order, when making their list of blueline trade targets.

1) The defenceman should be available for trade, or at least acquirable without significant overpay.

2) The defenceman should have a contract that will not impede the Canucks’ attempts to sign Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes to long-term extensions.

3) The defenceman should be of at least top-four quality, preferably with the ability to spend at least some time on a top pairing.

4) The defenceman should be on the upswing of their career, in line with the core of the team, or at the very least not on the downswing.

5) The defenceman should be right-handed, or at least comfortable playing on the right side.

You may notice that the much-rumoured Oliver Ekman-Larsson only checks two those boxes — or maybe only one, depending on how far you believe his game has fallen off. That’s why we’ve put together our own list of potential D trade targets that make more sense for the Canucks.

Honestly, it wasn’t even that hard.