For a guy whose name sounds an awful lot like Caillou, Jordan Kyrou remains a popular topic around NHL centres. As the St. Louis Blues’ 2025-26 has progressed through several ups and downs, Kyrou’s name has hit the rumour market a few times over. And now that the Blues themselves have declared they are moving forward with “no untouchables,” it seems like Kyrou’s days in Missouri may be numbered.

This latest round of supposed trade talks have definitely produced the most smoke, and now we’ve got some names attached to that speculation. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston specifically wrote this week that he thought there were three teams most interested in Kyrou, and they were the Ottawa Senators, the New Jersey Devils, and the Vancouver Canucks.

Now, no one should be all that surprised to see Vancouver attached to any piece of trade speculation these days. The Canucks are known to be very active in the trade market right now, and there’s little doubt that they’re making some moves in the very near future. Given the size and passion of the Vancouver fanbase, it’s always good business to throw their name into the mix when talking rumours.

But is Kyrou really the sort of player that the Canucks might, or should, be interested in right now?

Kyrou’s reputation has wavered over the years, but he’s been a remarkably consistent scoring forward since arriving in the NHL. Kyrou debuted in 2018-19 and played another partial season before making it full-time for the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign, during which he notched 35 points in 55 games. In the four full seasons since then, Kyrou has played in at least 74 games and scored at least 67 points. His production might come in spurts at times, but the year-end totals have been all too reliable.

Until, that is, this season. Here and now, the player who had either been St. Louis’ top or second-leading scorer in the three seasons prior to this is struggling. Kyrou is sitting on just eight goals and 16 points in 29 games. It’s the worst scoring pace Kyrou has experienced since he was an NHL rookie, and it has him way down in sixth place on the Blues’ scoring chart.

Hence, the thought that Kyrou might be moved, and soon.

But moved to Vancouver? That seems a lot less likely.

The basic interest that the Canucks might have in Kyrou is easy enough to figure out. The Canucks are short on offensive talent and reliable production, and Kyrou has typically brought that to the table. He’s usually a good bet to hit 70 points, and the Canucks will almost certainly not have one of their current players hit that total this year. Kyrou would instantly become either the most or second-most skilled forward on the current roster, and that’s got to count for something.

But as soon as we start applying any specific context, the whole idea sort of falls apart. We know the Canucks have stated an interest in an accelerated, “hybrid rebuild.” We know that plan is meant to entail acquiring young, NHL-ready players over picks and undeveloped prospects. But to call Kyrou a ‘young’ player is stretching the bounds of the term. He’s 27, going on 28. He is seven months, and a whole draft year, older than Elias Pettersson.

Folks like Pettersson are right in that grey area, where their current age may still leave enough good years on the table to justify keeping them around through some form of a rebuild. But it’s a grey area already, and it really only applies to players already on hand. The notion of trading for a player in that age-range – and presumably paying a decent amount of assets to do so – is a very different matter, and one to be avoided.

Speaking of cost, one has to assume that the Blues are looking for the same sort of assets the Canucks should be looking for. Trading for Kyrou makes little sense, but trading from the Canucks’ still-limited collection of picks and prospects for Kyrou sounds downright counterproductive.

In reality, the Blues and Canucks are in too similar a position to be a good fit as trading partners. And even if they were, Kyrou just seems like a bad fit for the Canucks. We haven’t even mentioned his $8.125 million cap hit (with a full no-trade clause) that he carries for four full seasons after this one. It’s just not a case of money or assets well-spent.

There’s something to be said about temperament here. Kyrou is someone who has been visibly bothered by the Blues’ inconsistencies in recent years, and occasionally moved to tears by their struggles. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a good cry, and we do wish more NHLers would do so openly. But that said, a player who has a tough time handling on-ice difficulty is not a player who should be joining the Vancouver Canucks at this stage of their franchise. The Canucks are in for at least a couple tough years, and someone who is going to be that upset by losing is not someone the team needs to target.

Losses at home have been a particular bugbear for Kyrou in recent years. We probably don’t need to explain why that makes Vancouver among the worst possible destinations for him.

One last note, if we haven’t made our case strongly enough already: Kyrou is often listed as a centre, and was indeed drafted as one, he’s now firmly established as a winger at the NHL level. He’s spent this entire season on the flank of either Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas, or our old friend Pius Suter. An acquiring team could always try to put Kyrou back at centre, but that seems like an experiment doomed to failure.

We hate to totally shut down an idea. But when you talk about whether the Canucks should spend of their limited assets and cap space to acquire an expensive 27-year-old winger who is in the midst of the worst season or their career and who has previously demonstrated a real difficulty with team struggles, the answer becomes pretty clear-cut.

And the answer is ‘obviously not.’