In most years, Simon Edvinsson would be the biggest name to hit the trade market in the NHL. But this is 2026, the year of the wildest offseason in league history, and so, of course, Edvinsson isn’t even the only unsigned 25-and-under RFA holdout LD with top-pairing potential on the market right now. (Hello, Alexander Nikishin!)

But Edvinsson is a good enough player, and an interesting enough hockey asset, that when he does hit the market, it bears some sort of discussion. And hit the market Edvinsson has. After a disaster-class in summer mismanagement (or lack thereof), the Detroit Red Wings are still without a GM and without a new contract for Edvinsson. A week into the 2026-27 season, he’s gone home to Sweden and, according to Elliotte Friedman, officially let it be known that he’d prefer a trade out of town over an extension with Detroit at this point.

The general appeal of Edvinsson is easy enough to figure out. He’s 23, was drafted at sixth overall in 2021, and stands at 6’6” and 222 pounds. Drafted with that aforementioned top-pairing potential, Edvinsson has adapted to the big leagues remarkably quickly. The 2025-26 campaign was only his second full one with the Red Wings, and it saw Edvinsson post 25 points in 72 games and play an average of 22:21 a night.

He’s got a strong defensive focus, plenty of offensive ability for a player of his ilk, and the size and raw ability to be someone special in his particular role.

Contract-wise, Edvinsson is currently an RFA. Word on the street, however, is that he’s seeking one of those long-term extensions to which every other team seems to want to sign their young D. The Red Wings, under interim GM Shawn Horcoff and somewhat bizarrely, are reportedly refusing, and prefer to sign Edvinsson to a short-term “bridge” extension. Hence, the holdout, the return to Sweden, and the apparent animosity.

But this isn’t a site that typically covers general appeal. This is a site that covers Canucks-specific appeal, and on that front, Edvinsson isn’t the most logical target.

First and foremost, the Canucks already have an (even younger) star-potential LD in Zeev Buium, and they’ve already committed one of those long-term extension to him, having signed him for eight years at $9.38 million this past summer. Buium and Edvinsson are very different defenders, but having them both on the same roster would be a little redundant, especially with holes to fill elsewhere.

There is some appeal to having both Buium and Edvinsson, and thus having an extremely strong left side of the blueline in the long-term. But then the Canucks would effectively be giving up on the potential of the younger Elias Pettersson, who has really stepped up his game in the early going of 2026-27, or at least condemning him to either bottom-pairing deployment or a trade moving forward.

Left D just so happens to be a position of relative organizational strength for the Canucks. Behind Buium and Pettersson, they’ve got a recently-signed veteran in Jamie Oleksiak and one of their top prospects in the 22-year-old Kirill Kudryavtsev. It’s thus a position in which the Canucks could only really justify making a big addition if the price were right.

And, despite all the drama, it’s unlikely the price will be right with Edvinsson.

Think of it this way: Edvinsson was drafted at sixth overall, and has either met or exceeded the expectations of that draft position to this point in his NHL career. That suggests that his approximate trade value should be pretty close to a sixth overall selection right now, if not higher.

The Canucks are one of the few teams out there who could reasonably meet any asking price. They’ve got all their own first-round picks moving forward, with the next few projected to be in that 6OA range, if not higher. They’ve got a bevy of under-23 talent in the depth chart, including the aforementioned Zeev Buium, the recently-drafted Caleb Malhotra, and a bunch of other quality names like Tom Willander, Braeden Cootes, and Adam Novotny.

But, of course, those are the exact assets that the Canucks should be absolutely refusing to part with at this stage in their rebuild. Especially for what is ultimately a somewhat redundant asset. Unless Edvinsson were to be available for what amounts to the Canucks’ organizational spare change, there’s probably no direct trade to be had here.

But who’s to say the exchange would need to be so direct?

There is something worth considering about the potential for the Canucks to be a third partner in some sort of Edvinsson trade. The Red Wings are in a unique spot in which they’ve got some well-developed young pieces at the NHL level already, like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, and also some major holes and issues. They might not be headed for an outright rebuild, but they’re not ready to step back into contention yet, either. Especially not with former captain and current top centre Dylan Larkin still out of the lineup and waiting on a requested trade.

Perhaps there could be some potential in the Canucks sending Detroit more of what they’re looking for in terms of NHL-level assets, and then flipping Edvinsson somewhere else in exchange for the kind of future-based assets more in line with the Vancouver rebuild.

We know the Red Wings must be interested in some form of Larkin replacement at some point. We know they’ve had at least passing interest in the elder Elias Pettersson before. Is that interest sustained by Pettersson’s hot start to the season?

And if not Pettersson, might they be interested in the younger Marco Rossi as, if not a direct Larkin replacement, a big part of the replacement committee?

The basic trade we’re imagining here is a centre to Detroit, Edvinsson back to Vancouver, and then Edvinsson on to somewhere else for a high pick, or a blue-chip prospect, or some combination thereof.

That said, unless Detroit is especially bullish on either Pettersson or Rossi right now, it’s hard to imagine them holding equivalent value to a 23-year-old defender of Edvinsson’s quality. And the Canucks aren’t exactly flush with spare pieces they could add on top of an offer.

Chances seem best that there will be other teams out there with a more direct need for Edvinsson that will find a way to offer up more than what the Canucks are willing. And that is, of course, okay. A player like Edvinsson being available is an opportunity worth considering and talking about. But a patient approach also requires waiting for not just opportunities, but the right opportunities.

This probably isn’t one of them.