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Is the Canucks’ lack of trade activity concerning?: Canucks Conversation

Photo credit: © Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

By Clarke Corsan

Jun 30, 2025, 16:15 EDTUpdated: Jun 30, 2025, 15:59 EDT

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On today’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal discussed the growing sense of frustration among fans as the Vancouver Canucks have yet to make a significant move in the trade market outside Evander Kane, despite a clear need to improve their roster. But as Harm pointed out, the difficulty isn’t unique to Vancouver.

“The whole league is stuck in this spot,” Harm said. “Outside of [JJ] Peterka and [Noah] Dobson, what real difference makers have actually moved? Most teams that had the ambition to meaningfully improve and land that top-six forward or top-four impact defenceman haven’t gotten their shopping done.”

Despite high demand and cap space across multiple teams, the trade market has been unusually slow to develop. Harm highlighted that even aggressive clubs like the Carolina Hurricanes have had trouble closing deals.

“Eric Tulsky, the GM for the Hurricanes, has been talking about this dynamic,” Harm continued. “They’ve got oodles of cap space with Orlov and Burns coming off the books, extra first-round picks from the Rantanen trade… but they haven’t been able to get what they want done. Most of the league is stuck in this spot. It’s not a Canucks-specific problem.”

In Vancouver’s case, Harm acknowledged that landing Evander Kane early, while not a marquee move, was at least a step forward. “Maybe he isn’t as high-end as you’re looking for, but they’ve at least gotten one move done,” he said. “This isn’t to fully excuse management, but it’s not as if everyone else has gotten their work done and the Canucks haven’t.”

As for next steps, Harm and Quads debated some of the mid-tier options available should the Canucks clear cap space. “There are some options,” Harm said. “They’re not great, but if you move a contract out, could you now afford a [Jonathan] Drouin and [Jack] Roslovic? Drouin as your top-six winger – his production in Colorado has been pretty good, though he played with [Nathan] MacKinnon a lot. He hasn’t played himself into a massive contract, so it could be a reasonable add.”

“Roslovic can play centre or wing, and the Canucks have reportedly liked him in the past. He’d be relatively economical. Again, these names don’t excite me, but I like them more than the alternatives, like an aging Mikael Granlund.”

Still, Harm expressed concern that Vancouver may be heading for a plateau.

“I’m increasingly concerned this team is going to be stuck in the mushy middle, especially when you look at what’s happening around them,” he said. “Utah has already landed Peterka. Vegas is rumoured to be the landing spot for Mitch Marner. That wouldn’t be good news if Marner ends up in the Pacific Division.”

“At this point, the best-case scenario is landing a Marco Rossi,” he added. “Then we can step back and look at the team next season – you get Evander Kane and Marco Rossi, but Boeser and Suter are likely out. Has your forward group really improved on paper, or is that just a wash?”

Quads chimed in, pointing to miscalculations in the market. “Everyone misjudged what this offseason was going to look like,” he said. “If they knew Suter was going to be basically the second-best free agent centre available on July 1, they probably would’ve extended him a year ago. That, and knowing what the market would look like for Brock Boeser.”

“I’m not saying ‘poor Canucks,’” he added. “But it was always a weird decision to walk Boeser to free agency. Getting Drew O’Connor, Marcus Pettersson, and all this other work done but not getting Boeser done? That was a head-scratcher.”

Harm closed the discussion by addressing Allvin’s public comments on the Boeser situation. “I don’t like the way the Canucks handled it, especially Allvin’s comments when he was essentially saying they couldn’t get any trade packages for Brock,” Harm said. “I’m not going to criticize them for not wanting to pay Boeser $8 million on a long-term deal. I can’t fault them for that, especially when JT Miller is gone, and Boeser doesn’t have a centre to play with.”

You can watch the full segment below: