The free agent cupboards are bare, with the likes of Jack Roslovic headlining the best available players on the market. Yet, there’s a lot of talk around the league about teams not being happy with their roster and will look to attack the trade market to fill their voids.
However, there is only one team in the league that appears to be actively trying to sell off assets and get worse: the Pittsburgh Penguins. This comes as a surprise considering the clear seller’s market as well as the strength of the 2026 NHL draft class, with Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoeff at the top of the board.
Nonetheless, the Penguins are in an advantageous position to capitalize on some of their players. According to The Athletic’s Josh Yohe, the Penguins are receiving calls on a pair of wingers, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell:
“Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell remain considerable commodities on the trade market and, league and Penguins sources said, opposing teams still have heavy interest in both wingers.“The Penguins have been fielding calls about both players since last season ended.”
With Rust and Rakell being the highest-profile names available on the market, do either of them make sense for the Vancouver Canucks to trade for?
The Players
Rust, 33, is a 5’11” right-shot winger who is coming off a career year. The Michigan native scored 31 goals and 65 points, despite missing 11 games and finishing with a minus-21 rating.
Spending all 11 years of his NHL career in Pittsburgh, Rust has often played second fiddle to either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. However, he has been the perfect complementary piece for the two star centremen, finishing with over 40 points in six straight seasons.
Despite the smaller frame, Rust is tenacious on the forecheck and is a great facilitator to get the puck to the main playmaker.
Rakell, 32, is a 6’1″ right-shot winger who is also coming off a career year. Playing for the majority of the season on Sidney Crosby’s wing, Rakell scored 35 goals and 70 points in 81 games played. His efforts during the season earned him a spot on Team Sweden’s 4 Nations Face-off roster as an extra when Vegas Golden Knights centreman William Karlsson missed with an injury.
Throughout his 13-year career, Rakell has proven to be a consistent goal scorer. He has scored 236 goals in 802 games, doing most of it without much help in Anaheim.
Despite the smaller frame, Rust is tenacious on the forecheck and is a great facilitator to get the puck to the main playmaker. He brings more of an all-around game, whereas Rakell is more of a traditional sniper, who can also create more on his own.
The Fit
Both Rust and Rakell would bring offensive upside to a Canucks top-six that lacks a secondary star in the lineup. Unfortunately, you won’t find that in either Rust or Rakell.
If you’re looking for more of a play driver, Rakell is probably the one to target. However, neither forward has been known to drive their own line.
But looking at the Canucks current lineup, where would either fit in?
Evander Kane – Elias Pettersson – Nils Höglander
Jake DeBrusk – Filip Chytil – Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua – Aatu Räty – Conor Garland
Drew O’Connor – Teddy Blueger – Kiefer Sherwood
As currently constructed, there is just no room for Rust or Rakell. The Canucks have eight NHL-calibre wingers already on the team, and that’s not including AHL playoff-leading goal-scorer Linus Karlsson, who deserves a shot with the big club next season.
The Canucks’ hole is down the middle of the ice, but that’s not news to any of you. Rakell has some experience playing centre, finishing with over 600 faceoffs in a single season, but that was all the way back in the 2017-2018 season. Since being traded to Pittsburgh, Rakell has taken just 84 in his four seasons. So you can rule out the option of Rakell at 2C.
The Verdict
Should the Canucks trade for Rust or Rakell? No, probably not.
Would these players help the Canucks’ scoring woes? Undoubtedly. However, there just isn’t room for either player on the wings here in Vancouver. Not to mention, the Canucks have under $1 million of available cap space. So even if they wanted to acquire one of these players, they would have to move out two of their current wingers and some to create the cap room and the lineup space to make it work.
It just seems like too much roster maneuvering to fit in a winger when they already have too many. A second-line centre, on the other hand, would make more sense to move some wingers out to fill that void down the middle. But not in this deal for either Rust or Rakell.
What do you think, Canucks fans? Would you want the Canucks to trade for Rust or Rakell? Let us know in the comments below!
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