For a guy who has always moved around the ice pretty quickly for his size, the Tyler Myers trade process has been slow going. When it was announced shortly before the Vancouver Canucks’ Wednesday matchup with the Winnipeg Jets that Myers would be scratched for “roster management” purposes, most assumed they’d hear trade details by the end of the night.

Here we are, into the weekend, and Myers remains Canucks property.

In some ways, this is playing out like a Wheel of Fortune puzzle. We know Myers’ likely destination begins with a “D,” and the rest will be revealed in time.

If we’ve got the exact sequence down right through various reports, it would appear that the Canucks approached Myers about a trade offer they received from the Detroit Red Wings. Myers and his family needed to take some time to think about such a lengthy move. The Canucks decided to scratch him for roster management purposes, as Myers mulls over his decision of whether or not to waive his trade protection.

Somewhere along the way, the Dallas Stars became involved, and Myers has reportedly indicated to the Canucks that, if possible, he’d prefer going to Dallas over Detroit. With a full no-movement clause, it’s entirely Myers’ choice at this point. But with him still under contract into next season, and with that NMC turning into a mere 12-team no-trade clause in July, the Canucks won’t be rushed into a decision.

In other words, Myers getting his wish and going to Dallas is still a distinct possibility. Maybe even a good one. But it’s not something that will happen unless the Stars make a fair offer.

So what might a fair offer look like?

There’s a lot of appeal to Myers. Pick out a rare and valued trait in hockey, and Myers probably possesses it. He’s a right-shooting defender, the scarcest position in the sport, especially around deadline time – and the position that the Stars, specifically, need most. In a league where size is increasingly becoming key to the success of a playoff blueline, Myers stands at 6’8” and 229 pounds. And, as Vancouver fans have learned over the years, he will occasionally make violent use of that full frame.

Myers is in the midst of a bad season, perhaps the worst of his career. But that’s hard to separate from the context of the 2025-26 Canucks team around him, and Myers had two of his best seasons in each of the last two years. Given his profile and his past, teams should be willing to bet on him. Especially given that his cap hit is just $3 million, and that even that could be reduced by 50% via retention.

All that said, we’d set the bare minimum price here at a second-round pick, and probably at least a little bit more than that. Anything less, and the Canucks might as well hang on to Myers until the summer, when they’ll have a little more freedom to shop around for offers.

The Dallas Stars do not have a first-round pick in this upcoming draft, having dealt it in their acquisition of Mikko Rantanen. But they still have their 2026 second-round pick, as well as their 2027 second-round pick. They’re a bit short on picks overall – also missing their 2028 first, their 2028 second, and their 2027 third – but if it’s just a pure draft package that is required, the Stars should still be able to meet the price.

They could call it a 2026 second and a 2026 third and call it a day. But GM Patrik Allvin and Co. have shown a slight preference for prospects or young NHLers over picks, so they may also be looking over the Dallas depth chart for potential pieces.

A name that has come up a lot over the past year is Mavrik Bourque. Back when the Canucks were still desperate for a young scoring centre, Bourque was floated as a potential solution.

The good news is that Bourque should be more obtainable than ever. At age 24 and in his sophomore season, Bourque appears to have hit a bit of a rut. He’s at just 23 points in 58 games, which is a slight uptick on his production from his rookie year. But that should have probably been a massive uptick, given that Bourque has spent about half his ice-time this year with some combination of Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, and Wyatt Johnston as linemates. Bourque also seems to slowly but surely be transitioning to a winger instead of a centre.

So, there is a real possibility that the Stars are willing to part with Bourque. One can even imagine a scenario in which they add a third or fourth round pick to their Myers package in order to add Evander Kane to their purchase, thus replacing Bourque’s role on their roster and upgrading their blueline in one fell swoop.

But given Bourque’s struggles to gain traction at the NHL level, and his less-than-ideal size at a slight 5’11”, maybe the Canucks’ sights are better set elsewhere.

The Stars are in contention mode, and so other young NHLers are hard to come by on their roster. There’s 21-year-old LD Lian Bichsel, but he should rightly be untouchable. Their prospect cupboard has also been hampered by years of trading picks, but they do have at least one of note in right wing Emil Hemming, drafted 29^th overall in the 2024 Draft. The sizeable Finn is up to 56 points in 37 OHL games with the Barrie Colts in his Draft+2 season, and looks like he’s got a shot at a future top-six job in the NHL.

Hemming does seem a bit rich as a return for the time being, but apply retention to Myers, and maybe throw in a retained Kane, too, and that might approach fair territory. If the Canucks could land Hemming, he’d be a lot more valuable than a simple second-rounder.

Beyond Hemming, however, the quality of the list drops off steeply. We’re mostly left with players drafted in the third round or later, or players already on a less-than-ideal development path. The uber-talented Cameron Schmidt of the Vancouver Giants, WHL leading scorer, might be interesting due to the local ties, but at just 5’8” and 160ish pounds, he’d be a bonus sweetener, not a main piece.

All of which goes to show that we’ve got a fairly narrow window of negotiation here. The Stars could conceivably give up a return involving their only true top prospect, Hemming (unlikely); a decent young NHLer, Bourque (more likely); or a package of draft picks, including a second-round pick and some change (most likely). That’s probably the exact order of the Canucks’ own preferences, too.

The Stars aren’t exactly bursting with future-based assets, but they do probably have enough to get this deal across the finish line if they decide to prioritize acquiring Myers.

Until then, Myers sits, and the rest of us wait.

The 2026 Trade Deadline Special is going LIVE March 6th. Join the Daily Faceoff crew on Friday, March 6th from 8 AM-12:30 PM PT for wall-to-wall coverage of every single move as it happens. Get instant reaction, expert analysis, and exclusive insights from special guests throughout the day. Tune in LIVE on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and don’t miss a second of deadline day chaos.