A few hours after the Vancouver Canucks traded veteran defenceman Tyler Myers, General Manager Patrik Allvin addressed the media following an optional game-day skate to address the trade, as well as a few other topics.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, the Canucks shipped Myers to the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2029 fourth-round pick. To juice the return and receive the extra pick, Vancouver is retaining 50% of Myers’ $3 million salary for the rest of this season and next. Allvin opened his availability by thanking Myers for his six years in Vancouver:

“First of all, I want to thank Tyler for his time here in Vancouver,” Allvin said. “He’s a great person and has been a good hockey player for us. Tyler had that full no-move. So at the end of the day, I respected the conversations that I had with Tyler, that this was something that might happen. I made him aware about a week ago, and in the end of the day, he signed off on this trade this morning.”

Allvin shared that he was on the Burrard Bridge this morning when he received the offer from Dallas that Myers eventually accepted, waiving his no-movement clause to do so. The Canucks GM went on to detail the process it took to get the Myers trade over the finish line after sitting him out of action for a week:

“I approached Tyler probably a week ago, but I approached his agent earlier that this might be something that, if something comes up, we’re going to consider.

“There was a handful of teams in there that expressed interest. As I said, even this morning, Tyler expressed interest on a short list where his preferred destination was. I didn’t know that it was going to go so quickly here this morning, but Dallas was on top of his list.”

On top of Myers, the Canucks have a lot more business to attend to. Myers still had term on his deal; however, their three unrestricted free agents – Teddy Blueger, Evander Kane, and David Kämpf – remain on the team. Allvin touched on where the negotiations stand regarding Blueger and Kane.

“Teddy has been a great pro. He was part of Vegas winning the cup before, so there is some value for us, no doubt about it. I mean, he’s been great here. I have a relationship with Teddy since he first started pro. That being said, my job is to look for what’s best for Vancouver.”

“I think [Kane’s] playoff performance over the last couple of years in Edmonton has shown that he is more than capable of performing in big games. His ability to skate with his bigger body. So I can’t talk for the other teams, that’s their choice, but we’ll see.”

But the unrestricted free agents are the only ones in trade rumours surrounding the Canucks. Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, and Conor Garland are some veterans with term that have heard their names recently. Unfortunately for all involved, those players have underperformed this season, thus making it more difficult for Allvin to move said players:

“I think as a group here we have underperformed,” Allvin mentioned. “I think the standard was higher. I think our players are capable of much more, but for different reasons, during this season, we haven’t been able to find a game where we can sustain it and be consistent and have our individual players performing better. So for that reason, yeah, could be part of moves around the league that the term and the money are hurting the players.”

For this reason, along with the large cap hit and the term remaining on their contracts, moves of this nature may be best suited for the NHL Draft or the offseason. Which is something Allvin is prepared for, while also setting his sights on being a better team next season:

“Could be busier leading up to the draft, for sure, but have in mind what we did earlier. I think we did a couple of big moves here and probably didn’t help the other teams by setting the market so high, which is the conversation that I’m having here now. So it definitely could be something that we’ll be looking at in the summertime, too, leading up to the draft.

“We’re going to have a good team here next year, too. I think it’s important for the future to surround the young players with some leadership, and also continue to build.”

One of the hot-button topics in the market right now is the play of Elias Pettersson. His struggles have become so apparent that he was benched for the final 10 minutes on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken. Since signing the largest contract in franchise history, Pettersson has not lived up to the $11.6 million price tag that will follow him around.

Allvin spoke about his struggles and what he needs to see out of him moving forward:

“I don’t think his production is where he wants it to be or where we want it to be. I do think that he’s been working on his two-way game. I think he has stretches where he has played really well two-way hockey. But again, a player like that, you know that he’s capable of so much more with where his talent level is. Whatever he expressed to you guys, I believe that he was probably pretty honest in saying that his game wasn’t where he wants it to be.

“That being said, it’s easy to say that you’re going to be better, but what are you actually going to do to be better? I think that the action is something we want to see. We want to see the players working with him. For Elias, it all starts by being prepared and pushing himself every day to get better. There is no doubt about his talent level. We’ve seen that, but hopefully he finds it and hopefully continues to work on it.”

But it’s not just Pettersson; it’s the entire team that has struggled this season. A team that entered the year with playoff aspirations now finds itself with a 10-point cushion on the next-worst team. To end his availability, Allvin discussed what he wants to see from his group to finish the season strong:

“I want to see more fight in the group,” Allvin expressed. “I think Adam [Foote] pointed out the game [against Dallas] and the game against San Jose; I didn’t see the fight and urgency. It’s their job, the players’ job, and our job to prepare every night for the fans and play for the crest. You can lose games, but you play the right way, and you’re going to compete.

“That’s what I want to see from my group here moving forward. And I want to see us getting better. Areas of our game, the details of our games that I want to see improvement in. Losing games is not great for anyone. We owe it to the fans here that have been great in Vancouver, and our players should play hard every night.”