It feels like it has been a while since the Vancouver Canucks have been caught in such an in-between place, but it’s definitely not the first time.

Now little more than a week away from the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, it is tough to say if the Canucks know what kind of team they are yet. As of this writing, they’re just barely clinging to a playoff spot, and even if they do make the postseason, they’re not exactly looking like a team that can make too much noise there.

And so, we reach that eternal late February question for any pseudo-contender: to sell, to buy, or to do neither.

But what if the Canucks were able to stay in-between and choose a path that contains a little ‘best of both worlds’? The team does, after all, have a bevy of interesting UFAs-to-be that would fetch decent-to-good returns on the Trade Deadline market. At the same time, the Canucks have also built up a solid, albeit top-heavy, collection of prospects who could serve as internal replacements for said UFAs, should they be traded.

In fact, the Canucks would seem to have convenient replacements available for each of their pending UFAs, which makes us wonder: could the Canucks sell at the deadline, bring up their own prospects into those vacant positions, and still make a decent run at the playoffs?

We think there’s a chance to be had here.

The Canucks may be in a dogfight to make the postseason, but there aren’t that many other dogs involved. With 25 games to go on the regular season, it is increasingly looking like a two-horse race between the Canucks and the Calgary Flames for the last wild card spot in the West. The Colorado Avalanche are starting to pull ahead. The Utah Hockey Club and the St. Louis Blues are starting to fall out of it. That means that all the Canucks really have to focus on is staying ahead of the Flames, and that – with all due respect given to an upstart divisional opponent – doesn’t sound like the toughest challenge in the world.

Which is why it might just be achievable for the Canucks to engage in our patent-pending ‘sell UFAs, replace them with prospects’ scheme. Which, in our minds, looks a little something like this:

Let’s start with the internal replacement that has maybe already happened, with no trade required. Increasingly, it appears that the second Elias Pettersson has surpassed the veteran Derek Forbort on the LHD depth chart. Both have got a chance to skate with Filip Hronek in the wake of Quinn Hughes’ absence, but Pettersson is the one who seems to be getting the longer looks. Forbort may still be pulling down more ice time per night, but Pettersson is the one making the more noticeable impact.

We shouldn’t discount Forbort’s veteran savvy, especially when it comes to the penalty kill. There are presumably a lot of ‘little things’ that he can do well that Pettersson still needs to learn. So, although, in a sense, this swap is already happening, we have to acknowledge that more responsibility will inevitably lead to a steeper learning curve for Pettersson and perhaps some stumbles at the NHL level.

But so be it. There is little doubt that Pettersson looks ready for more NHL action. Turning Forbort into a draft pick or prospect, both helps that happen and builds up the franchise’s stocks of future assets.

Here is another internal replacement that has already happened somewhat. Or, at the very least, there has been a shuffling in the depth chart.

Yes, Noah Juulsen is currently on the IR. But, regardless of that, he’s also been shunted down the RHD priority list by both the acquisition of Victor Mancini, a younger and bigger RHD and by the coaching staff’s increasing comfortability with playing Carson Soucy on the right.

That could put Juulsen as low as fifth amongst RHDs on the team when he returns to the lineup. Which could mean he doesn’t return to the lineup, even when healthy.

Make no mistake: there will be at least a minor market for Juulsen. He’s a right-shooting defender with size and physicality who played a regular role on a playoff team just last year. Regardless of how poorly he’s played in 2024/25, some team will seek him out for depth. It might not be a very impressive return, but since the Canucks already have Mancini ready to go, along with the option of Soucy or even perhaps a recall of Cole McWard instead, why wouldn’t they flip Juulsen for something? Anything?

Now, we get a little more contentious.

On the whole, Pius Suter is having a pretty good season with 14 goals and 26 points in 56 games, which is the best scoring pace of his career. He’s a versatile talent who can play any forward position and spend time on either penalty kill, and that’s not exactly easy to replace.

Then again, it must be noted that Suter hasn’t exactly been a regular offensive contributor in 2024/25. Of Suter’s 14 goals, 11 came in the month-and-change between October 22 and December 6. He has just ten points in 32 games since then, which is kind of abysmal. He’s also now having the worst faceoff year of his career at just 42.9%.

All of a sudden, Suter doesn’t sound like he’d be that difficult to replace. And even if the need is felt for him to be replaced as a centre, specifically, the Canucks have at least one option on hand in Aatu Räty.

With just four points in 21 games this season and seven points on his career, Räty hasn’t exactly made himself a key offensive contributor yet, either. But he’s at 30 points in 31 AHL games thus far, which shows how much his scoring game has progressed. Sure, Räty might need to learn the finer details of things like special teams play at the NHL level. But he’s already a far better faceoff-taker than Suter, and right-handed, to boot. At the very least, he can definitely score at the same rate as Suter post-New Year or better.

Räty hasn’t got a proper look from the Canucks for a while now. Perhaps that’s because the team is holding him in reserve for a post-deadline run, knowing that they’ll eventually need to recall a centre.

Max Sasson is another option here, but Räty is definitely the more exciting notion of the two.

We doubt anyone has much issue with anything we’ve said thus far in the article. But to suggest that Brock Boeser, he of the 40-goal campaign last year and the roughly 30-goal pace this year, is ‘replaceable’ might be a bridge too far.

Especially on this Canucks team, which has struggled for consistent offence at the best of times. In fact, with the older Elias Pettersson still in mercury mode and the likes of Filip Chytil still finding his feet with the franchise, Boeser might just be the team’s primary scoring threat right now.

Make no mistake, to remove him from the roster would result in a lesser Canucks.

That said, the Canucks do have a prospect who appears nearly ready for top-six deployment at the NHL level, and he was recently named by our own Dave Hall as the franchise’s top overall prospect, period. It’s Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

At two goals and three points through 11 NHL games thus far, we don’t expect Lekkerimäki to step up to Boeser’s overall scoring pace. At least, not right away. There will be a massive learning curve to be had, and if he’s brought into the lineup as Boeser’s direct replacement, the immediate result will be the Canucks scoring fewer goals.

But then again, like Suter, Boeser has been really slowing down of late. He’s got just four goals since the calendar turned to 2025, and that’s in 22 games. That is around a 15-goal pace. Does anyone really doubt that given enough runway, Lekkerimäki can score at about that same rate?

Lekkerimäki is, after all, sitting on 18 goals in 30 games as an AHL rookie, numbers that can only be described as eye-popping.

Were Boeser to be dealt, the return would be considerable, and so long as Lekkerimäki could come in and pop a goal every now and then, we can’t honestly say that the end result would be terribly different than what Boeser is contributing lately.

Again, it’s not quite that simple. Boeser does more than score goals, and it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the team trades him and doesn’t become immediately worse off. But there’s definitely a chance that they can sell him and not end up that much worse off, and not so worse off that they don’t still beat out the Calgary Flames and make the postseason.

And so, we think there’s a chance that the Canucks employ this exact Trade Deadline strategy in a few days time. Or maybe not.

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