The National Hockey League waiver wire has just been littered with big names this week for the Vancouver Canucks to potentially claim.

First, it was St. Louis winger Brandon Saad. But that contract wasn’t very enticing at a $4.5 million cap hit. Saad has seen his minutes decline since Jim Montgomery took over as bench boss and has just seven goals and 13 points with a minus-14 rating through 43 games this season. The two sides have mutually agreed to terminate the final year of his contract, making Saad an unrestricted free agent with the ability to sign anywhere he chooses.

Then, the Seattle Kraken placed goaltender Philip Grubauer on waivers. He’s another player with an unattractive cap hit of $5.9 million for two more seasons after this. Grubauer is on track to have his worst statistical season, with a 5-15-1 record, a 3.83 goals-against average, and a .866% save percentage.

Given Vancouver’s strong goaltending and depth along the wings, these two players shouldn’t have drawn much interest from the club.

However, the latest player to hit the waiver wire might be of interest to the Canucks, as the Florida Panthers placed defenceman Adam Boqvist on the NHL waiver wire.

Let’s look further into Boqvist and see if he would make sense for the Vancouver Canucks.

Boqvist is a 24-year-old offensive defenceman who signed a one-year, $775,000 deal with the Panthers on July 9 this offseason. After their Stanley Cup victory, the Panthers lost defencemen Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to free agency and needed to find cheap replacements to fill out their blue line.

With Aaron Ekblad hurt to start the season, Boqvist was a massive opportunity to run the point on the team’s top power play unit. However, Boqvist struggled out of the gate despite the significant role, logging just two assists – coming on the power play – with a minus-5 rating through nine games.

The Swedish defenceman found himself up in the press box for the following 10 games, spending the following three weeks in and out of the Panthers lineup, adding two goals to his point totals. He would get another run of five games, tallying two assists before serving as a healthy scratch since January 6.

On the season, Boqvist has two goals and four assists for six points with a minus-4 rating through 18 games. While he isn’t being utilized in Florida, could he make sense for the Canucks’ blueline?

Analytically, Boqvist hasn’t been terrible. With him on the ice, the Panthers held a 48.22% shot share, 46.68% expected goals for percentage, 51.91% scoring chances for percentage and 48.84% high-danger scoring chances for percentage.

Here is where Boqvist stacks up among Canucks defencemen to play over 18 games:

It’s no surprise to see Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek at the top, but Boqvst ranks fourth in shot share percentage, sixth in expected goals for percentage, third in scoring chances for percentage and high-danger scoring chances for percentage.

Now, the Panthers are a better team analytically than the Canucks have been this year, so his numbers probably decline in Vancouver. Plus, Boqvist’s numbers in these analytics this year are the highest or second highest of his career.

So, let’s use his career averages to find a more accurate benchmark to find the true numbers for Boqvist, considering he was spending time on weaker Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets teams:

Boqvist now drops to sixth in shot share percentage, fourth in scoring chances for percentage, sixth in high-danger scoring chances for percentage and remains sixth in expected goals for percentage among the Canucks current defence corps.

So, he’s still a top-six defenceman analytically on this team right now, when comparing his career averages.

But does this move make sense for the Canucks?

It’s no surprise that the Canucks are lacking puck-moving on the backend. Hughes, Hronek, and, as of late, Tyler Myers have been the only competent puck-moving blueliners currently on the roster.

We say currently on the roster because the Canucks do have another young, cheap offensive defenceman within the organization, as they have Erik Brännström playing games for their AHL affiliate.

Brännström is in a similar situation as Boqvist. Both are former first-round offensive defencemen who have bounced around the league a fair bit and have had trouble finding a home in the NHL.

Let’s compare their career statistics:

Despite playing fewer games, Boqvist has the advantage points-wise, but his plus-minus rating takes a massive hit.

The difference between the two players is that Boqvist plays the premier right side, with a bigger frame, standing at six feet tall compared to Brännström’s 5’10” stature.

But that’s really it. Both seem to be underwhelming offensive defencemen and if Brännström can’t build confidence with this coaching staff, do we really expect Boqvist to do so?

It should be a telltale sign that the Panthers – known for taking lesser defencemen, developing them, and getting the most out of them – are now willing to lose Boqvist for nothing.

However, if the reason Brännström isn’t working out in Vancouver is because he plays the left side and is a little undersized, Boqvist could be the answer if they want more puck-moving on the backend.

The team desperately needs a right-shot defenceman to step up and hold onto the right side of the third pairing with Vincent Desharnais and Noah Juulsen struggling. With just one year remaining on his deal, it wouldn’t hurt for the Canucks to kick the can and see if Boqvist might be a fit here in Vancouver.

Although he might not be the needle-mover the team is looking for, there is minimal risk in a move like this.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Would you want to see the Canucks claim Panthers defenceman Adam Boqvist? Let us know in the comment section below!