The NHL Trade Deadline is a funny time of year.

A mad, one-day, six-or-so-hour scramble for transactional supremacy that slowly-but-surely takes up the entirety of the hockey world’s focus as it approaches.

A few other funny things happen, too, as the deadline nears. One is a general sharpening and focusing of trade rumours. The closer the deadline gets, the more specific the speculation, to the point where we’re at Deadline Day and the pundits are directly breaking news.

We’re not quite there yet. But we’re close. And the rumours are getting mighty specific.

Darren Dreger, longtime NHL insider and cousin of former Canucks GM Dave Nonis, was on the Sekeres & Price show this week to talk some Vancouver deadline scuttlebutt. The speculation he shared was of the variety where it sure sounds like the pundit knows something specifically, but is keeping it vague on purpose, in order to maintain some pre-deadline mystery.

In addition to stating plainly that the Canucks are ‘not interested’ in the rental market, Dreger shared that he believed the Canucks were interested in acquiring a centre. Specifically, Dreger spoke of a centre that was not on most people’s trade boards – and then he dropped a cryptic clue or two about said centre coming from a team at or near the playoff cut-off in the Eastern Conference.

Now, that’s an awful lot of clues. Centre. Eastern Conference. Playoff fringes. Not a rental.

In fact, it’s enough clues to draw a pretty tight net around whoever it is that Dreger thinks (or knows) the Canucks are pursuing.

Here’s a team-by-team breakdown of the candidates.

We hate to start off the list with the opposite of a bang, but we don’t think the Blue Jackets are selling many centres at the moment.

Columbus’ season began with tragedy, and what has happened since is no less than inspiring. Against all odds, the Blue Jackets are in a playoff position heading into the stretch run. To do anything to undercut that at this point would be almost unconscionable.

Do the Blue Jackets have centres to spare, and that the Canucks could use? Sure. Captain Boone Jenner definitely comes to mind, but can anyone really imagine CBJ trading their captain in the midst of a season like this one?

The optics on moving Sean Monahan might be even worse.

Adam Fantilli is too young and has too much potential to move in anything less than a blockbuster deal.

The only name that might make some sense here is Cole Sillinger. He’s flip-flopped between centre and the wing in his young NHL career, but was on pace for career numbers in 2024/25 with 29 points in 54 games before exiting the lineup with an injury. Now, the 21-year-old is facing weeks on IR. Maybe that makes Columbus more willing to deal him for something they can use in the present moment, down the stretch run. They have reportedly shown some interest in Brock Boeser.

On the Canucks’ side of things, Sillinger is signed for one more year at $2.25 million before becoming an RFA, and is definitely big on the proverbial ‘untapped offence.’

Is there potential here for a Boeser-for-Sillinger swap?

We wrote about the potential of a Detroit/Vancouver trade somewhat recently, and one name that really stood out in that discussion was Michael Rasmussen.

The 25-year-old centre is 6’6”, 220 pounds and hails from Surrey, so it’s not hard to see where the interest might come from. Rasmussen is described as skilled, especially ‘for his size,’ but has yet to put it all together at the NHL level with a career high of 33 points last season and a lesser pace in 2024/25. He’s under contract at $3.2 million AAV for this year and three more, which is a workable rate.

It’s tough to know what Detroit might be looking for in return. That same article mentioned a couple of younger centres in Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson who will be arriving soon, so a replacement for Rasmussen might already be on hand. Perhaps he could be parted with in exchange for something else the Red Wings are seeking, be it scoring on the wings or defensive depth. 

The obvious jokes aside, we can assume the Canucks got their centre of choice from New York already in the form of Filip Chytil. Beyond him, JT Miller, Vince Trocheck, and Mika Zibanejad aren’t happening. No one else is of any particular interest.

It’s maybe a fun notion to think about acquiring Alexis Lafrenière and converting him into a centre, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic of discussion.

Believe it or not, the Senators have two different centres who might make sense here. Two very, very different centres.

The one who has had his name attached to more rumours is Josh Norris. The 25-year-old is having probably his healthiest NHL season yet, but not his best. At 19 goals and 31 points through 52 games, Norris is a far cry from the 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games he put up as a sophomore – the season that earned him his current $7.95 million AAV contract, which runs until 2030.

That same contract adds a modified no-trade clause as of the summer of 2026, so if the Senators do want to move on from Norris, they’ll want to do it in the next year. Perhaps they’re ready to do so now, so long as they can get something back that they can use right away. Norris, it should be noted, is good friends with Quinn Hughes (when Hughes isn’t boarding him from behind, that is.)

The other name that might enter the discussion from Ottawa is Shane Pinto. Last year, Pinto became the poster boy of the new, gambling-laden NHL in all the wrong ways, and picked up a 41-game suspension for his troubles. This season, the 24-year-old has struggled to get back on track with just 25 points in 48 games, the lowest pace of his short career.

But Pinto still has potential for more, and some additional attributes that make him a little more interesting than Norris, including his size (6’3”), his right-handedness, and the fact that his salary is only $3.75 million for another season before he hits RFA status.

Whatever the Senators are looking for, there’s some sense in them parting with one of these two centres in order to get it. Were the Canucks to have their preference of the two, we think they’d put their money on Pinto.

Few, if any, expected Montreal to be making a run at the playoffs at this point. But they are, and they’re probably not looking to do a lot of selling as a result.

Captain Nick Suzuki ain’t going anywhere. Nor is recent call-up centre Owen Beck. Christian Dvorak is not someone the Canucks should be interested in, nor is pending UFA Jake Evans, who is about to sign a regrettable contract this summer.

That’s all the centres to be found on the Canadien’s roster right now. But what about a centre who’s not on the roster? What about a centre on season-long LTIR?

We’re talking, of course, about Kirby Dach. The 24-year-old has had a rough go of his NHL career since being drafted at third overall in 2019, with injuries being the primary culprit. This current round of surgery comes after Dach missed all but two games in 2023/24, and that’s got to be frustrating.

But the 6’4”, 220 pound right-handed centre is still brimming with upside. The 2022/23 season saw him post 38 points in just 58 games as a 22-year-old on a bad Montreal team. If he can get over the injury hump, Dach can still be a very impactful player in this league.

What we’re thinking here is that the Canadiens could feel comfortable trading Dach now, given that he is out for the remainder of the season, in exchange for something they can use in the present moment. Whether that’s an outright rental, like Boeser or maybe even a Pius Suter, or whether that’s for something a little more long-term, depends on how dedicated Montreal is to this current dash at the playoffs.

Dach has another season left at a $3.3625 million AAV after this one before hitting RFA status.

We end our tour in Boston, where they don’t have much to offer.

Elias Lindholm won’t be back at his current rate of salary. Matthew Poitras is too young and good to be parted with by a team in transition like the Bruins. And Trent Frederic is a pending UFA, and injured, to boot.

The 27-year-old Pavel Zacha could be of some interest. He’s not having the best season, but last year he put up a career high of 59 points in 78 games. Zacha is under contract for two more seasons after this at $4.75 million with a modified no-trade clause.

He’s moveable, but we don’t think the Bruins are too eager to trade someone who is currently slotted in as their 1C. At least, not at a price we imagine the Canucks would be comfortable with.

The only other option worth mentioning is sometime-centre, sometime-winger Charlie Coyle. But he’s 33, has put up just 21 points in 62 games this year, and is under contract for another season at $5.25 million with a full no-movement clause.

So maybe we should just call this exploration to a close.

Get ready, hockey fans! The Daily Faceoff Deadline is happening on March 7th from 11 AM to 4 PM Eastern, and you won’t want to miss it. We’ll be LIVE, breaking down every trade and big move as it happens, with instant reactions and expert analysis from the Daily Faceoff crew. Plus, we’ve got special guests lined up throughout the show, offering exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From blockbuster trades to surprise moves, we’re covering it all. Tune in to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and follow Daily Faceoff socials on March 7th to catch all the action!