Another team has surfaced as a potential trade partner for the Vancouver Canucks as they head toward their rebuild.

With the Canucks on their Eastern-Canadian road trip, those teams have an opportunity to see any potential trade targets up close and personal. And according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, Senators General Manager Steve Staios did just that.

“Steve Staios didn’t make a trip to the Bell Centre on Monday night because he wanted to have a delicious chien chaud or two,” Garrioch wrote. “The Ottawa Senators president of hockey operations and general manager is likely looking to see if he can find the right ingredients to cook up a trade for his struggling club.”

Garrioch went on to share that the Senators would be interested in a right-shot defenceman and a top-six forward.

The Canucks have a pair of veteran right-shot defencemen in Filip Hronek and Tyler Myers. Canucks brass have spoken at length about the job Hronek has done stepping up for the team since the Quinn Hughes trade. It would be a shock if they decided to move on from him. Regardless, both he and Myers have a full no-movement clause this season, so the Canucks would need to go through them before making a move.

Where Vancouver and Ottawa are more likely to be trade partners is surrounding a top-six forward. The Canucks have made UFAs Kiefer Sherwood and Evander Kane available, and more recently, veterans with term as well. This would include Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, and Jake DeBrusk.

There is a clear link between the two teams, as the current Senators Head Coach, Travis Green, was the Canucks’ Head Coach from 2017-2021. Green coached Myers, Garland and Boeser during his years in Vancouver. Bringing in players with term and familiarity with the Head Coach would provide extra motivation for an Ottawa team that has struggled to attract free agents.

The Senators are currently last in the Atlantic Division and second-to-last in the Wild Card race. That said, the Eastern Conference is still a tight race, as the Senators are just seven points out of the final Wild Card spot with 38 regular season games remaining to turn their season around and make the playoffs for back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2012-13.

Staios travelling to Montreal to watch Monday night’s contest because the Canucks and Canadiens could be the first step toward Vancouver and Ottawa becoming trade partners over the next few weeks.