logo
CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
The Kevin Bieksa Trade Tree: How a 2015 Canucks deal still impacts the NHL
alt
Photo credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Jeff Paterson
May 26, 2026, 13:05 EDT
Comments
After 10 seasons and 597 games in Vancouver Canucks colours, popular defenceman Kevin Bieksa realized the time had come for a change of scenery. The Canucks were a few years removed from their back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy-winning seasons, and the veteran wanted a chance to pursue a Stanley Cup championship. On June 30, 2015, Bieksa was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for a 2016 second round draft choice. The following is a look at how the Kevin Bieksa trade tree has grown through the years.
Just a month after receiving the draft pick from Anaheim, the Canucks took that asset and packaged it with centre Nick Bonino and defenceman Adam Clendening in a move that brought Brandon Sutter and a 2016 third round selection from Pittsburgh back to Vancouver.
The Penguins used the second round pick to take goaltender Filip Gustavsson at the 2016 draft. A couple of seasons later, Gustavsson was moved to Ottawa along with a 2018 first round pick, a third rounder along with veteran blueliner Ian Cole. Now, Cole never played for the Senators. Instead, just three days after he was picked up, he was moved along to Columbus for a third round pick in 2020. 
The third rounder then went from Ottawa to Toronto in a 2019 deal that involved multiple players including defenceman Nikita Zaitsev. The Leafs packaged that third rounder with Trevor Moore and sent them to Los Angeles in a deal that brought back goalie Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford. The Kings eventually used the draft pick on Alex Laferierre who plays for them today. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh had received a third round pick in 2018 along with Derrick Brassard and prospect Vincent Dunn (not to be confused with Vince Dunn, the defenceman who now plays for the Seattle Kraken). The third round pick the Penguins received in the deal with Ottawa was flipped to Colorado at the 2018 draft and was used on goalie Justus Annunen who was in turn traded to Nashville in 2024 in exchange for Scott Wedgewood.
Meanwhile, Gustavson was on the move once again in the summer of 2022 when he was shipped to Minnesota straight up for Cam Talbot in a swap of goaltenders. Of course, Gustavsson is now part of one of the league’s best netminding tandems with Jesper Wallstedt on the Wild.
Circling back to the first round selection in that Pittsburgh-Ottawa trade, it was moved again by the Senators to the New York Rangers ahead of the 2018 Draft. That pick became K’Andre Miller while the Sens got draft picks they used to select Jacob Bernard-Docker and Johnny Tychonick.
Of course, Miller has since been moved to the Carolina Hurricanes who acquired him from New York for 2026 first and second round draft picks along with defenceman Scott Morrow. Meanwhile, the Sens parted with Bernard-Docker in a deal with Buffalo that also included Josh Norris, Dylan Cozens and Dennis Gilbert.
Now for Vancouver’s part in all of this, the Canucks retained Brandon Sutter for six seasons before he left the game in 2021. They also used the third round pick they got from Pittsburgh to take Will Lockwood in the draft. While he never became a full time NHL’er, Lockwood played 28 games for the Canucks over three seasons before he was moved along with a seventh rounder to the New York Rangers in exchange for Vitali Kravtsov in February 2023. Kravtsov attempted to make the Canucks at training camp last fall, but failed to impress, was dispatched to Abbotsford in the preseason and decided to return to Russia after only a handful of games in the AHL.
The trade tree doesn’t end there, though. That’s because after just six months, Pittsburgh sent Adam Clendenning along with David Perron to Anaheim for Carl Hagelin. In dizzying fashion, Hagelin was moved to Los Angeles for Tanner Pearson who, in turn, was sent to Vancouver for Eric Gudbranson. And Pearson was eventually moved to Montreal during training camp in 2023 in exchange for Casey DeSmith. Meanwhile, Gudbranson was involved in a series of subsequent trades from Pittsburgh to Anaheim, Anaheim to Ottawa and finally Ottawa to Nashville. Those last three moves all involved late round picks and prospects that didn’t pan out.
As is so often the case, what seemed like a pretty simple deal at the time turned into a trade tree with many branches. And, of course, Kevin Bieksa is still heavily involved in the game, having settled in nicely as one of the stars of Hockey Night In Canada.
Sponsored by bet365
Editorials

Breaking News