The Vancouver Canucks are in the cellar, and they’re also sellers. But although they’ve made up their minds to trade off some pieces over the course of the next month or so, it can sometimes feel like their options are relatively limited.

Sure, the Canucks are almost certainly going to sell off their pending UFAs like Evander Kane, Teddy Blueger, and David Kämpf. They may even deal away a longer-termed veteran or two along the way.

But in already having dealt Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood, what the Canucks are low on, if not options, are opportunities to really earn some future-based assets. Most of the pieces they’re currently selling will return third-rounders at best, and even less than that in some instances. Unless they start moving some of their truly top assets, like Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland, or even Filip Hronek, the Canucks look to have some fairly limited opportunities to really cash in and continue stocking the cupboard for the ongoing rebuild.

But a team in the Canucks’ position – with nothing to play for and everything to build for – always has more options at hand than it seems. It’s just that some of those options are a little outside of the box, and maybe require some indirect thinking.

We’ve talked before about the potential for the Canucks to profit through taking on cap dumps. Today, we’re focusing more specifically on a type of cap dump that can yield not one profit, but two – we’re talking about flippable cap dumps.

Here’s what we mean by that: a player who other teams will pay the Canucks to take, either now or in the offseason, but who still holds some value as an NHLer, contract aside. The idea here is for the Canucks to get paid once to take the player, and then to hold them for a bit, have them rebuild their trade value before retaining salary on that player during the 2026-27 season and selling them off to the highest bidder.

In a sense, this could actually be a way for the Canucks to profit three times in the same series of transactions. It would go: A) get a return for a current veteran, B) get a return for accepting a cap dump who also replaces that veteran on the roster, and C) sell that replacement with retention next year.

For this purpose, we’re seeking out a very specific kind of player. They have to be overpaid to the point that their current team may wish to outright get rid of them and might pay up to do so. They have to be under contract past this season, but ideally just past this season, as in contracts that expire as of 2027. They also have to have at least a little playing ability left in them, so as to make them a more attractive asset with retention in a year’s time.

It may sound like a tall order, but we’ve collected a number of interesting candidates for just such a trade, all the same:

We start with a potential homecoming for a former Vancouver Giant. Gallagher still makes an impact on the ice with his leadership and truculence, but he stopped being worth his salary a few years ago, and his numbers have absolutely tanked this season. He could have a positive impact on the Canucks youth for a year, give the fans a little something extra to cheer for, and then play the exact sort of game to make him attractive as a retained playoff rental come 2027. Especially if the Canucks do end up trading Garland, Gallagher makes a sensible short-term replacement for a fight-bringer.

Signing the Cup-winning Killorn to this massive contract played a big role in the Anaheim rebuild being so successful, but now he’s in the way of those younger players and especially their pending contract extensions. He’s scoring at by far the lowest pace of his NHL career, and angling to finish with fewer than 10 goals on the season. But his leadership and playoff experience would still make him a fine rental next year, all the same, after a stint of mentorship in between.

Palat has already been dumped once, from the New Jersey Devils to the Islanders, and it cost the Devils a third and sixth round pick to do it (though they also received Maxim Tsyplakov in the exchange). Palat isn’t playing any better for the Islanders so far, and if the NYI are still attempting to compete for the playoffs next year, he’s a piece they’d probably rather be without. Like Killorn, Palat has that Cup-winning experience with the Lightning that will keep teams vaguely interested, as long as that salary can eventually be retained upon. 

The Canadiens did pay a second-round pick to acquire Danault this year, so his status as a cap dump is a little up in the air. But look at those numbers! The Canadiens would not get a second if they were to re-flip Danault, even now, a couple of months down the road. In fact, after a return to Montreal has failed to rejuvenate his career, the Habs may just need to pay to remove Danault from the equation for the final year of his contract as they move closer and closer to real contention. As a centre who still has strong defensive chops, Danault could eat some minutes for the Canucks without moving their own contention needle before joining a playoff roster as depth in 2027. A lose-lose transaction for the Canadiens could be a win-win for the Canucks.

You can apply everything we said about Killorn and apply it to Strome. The key difference being that Strome is a little cheaper, a little less consistent, and is having an even worse year. However, where Killorn carries value due to his winning experience, Strome picks up some through his ability to play centre. Chances are the Ducks look to move at least one of these veterans, if not both, and someone else may profit from the shuffle.

Greenway is a player we know the Canucks were interested in a few years ago, but maybe it’s better they never landed him, because he’s been on a downward trend ever since. By this point, Greenway is barely hanging on to his career and might be the only thing on the Sabres roster not currently working. They might look to move him more for roster space than cap space, but he’s definitely not worth that $4 million ticket all the same. Greenway could provide some physicality and toughness for a year, serving as an enforcer-lite on the young Canucks, and then might draw interest as a half-retained playoff fourth line rental down the road.

The Oilers keep making UFA bets that just don’t pay off, and Mangiapane is the latest. You won’t find a team more desperate to cut cap than Edmonton, and so the potential to get them to pay up now to move Mangiapane is high. And then he’s not too far removed from that 35-goal season in 2021-22 to have lost all his value, so he still should work as a retained sale in 2027 – especially if he can rebuild some value in a top-six role.

Foegele is a veteran role-playing middle-sixer who has fallen off a cliff production-wise this season. He’s enough of a name to draw some interest around the league, but certainly not at that price. He’s another low-stakes opportunity for the Canucks to play middleman.

Noesen’s name came up as a potential cap dump when Hughes-to-the-Devils was still being discussed. He doesn’t score much anymore, but he’s still a fine agitator who can occasionally chip in with some timely offence, and is always involved in the scrums. These sorts of players, and our next one, are always in at least a little demand come playoff time.

Hathaway is a definitive fourth line banger who probably never deserved such a large contract, and who doesn’t really put up any points at all anymore. But if the Canucks want to at least be a little tougher while they’re in the basement, accepting a short-term cap dump like Hathaway could have a two-fold benefit.