Sometimes, a quote gets dropped in Canuckland that you just know is destined to become infamous.

There was Todd Bertuzzi’s “It is what it is.”

Markus Naslund’s “We choked.”
Or when Jim Benning “kind of ran out of time.”

And, as of the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, we’ve got another, albeit longer, addition to the annals.

In speaking to the media following a day of no Vancouver trades – and, more specifically, the Canucks having decided to hang on to pending UFAs Brock Boeser, Pius Suter, and Derek Forbort – GM Patrik Allvin said “If I told you what I was offered for Brock Boeser, I think I would have to run out of here because you would not believe me.”

Well, sorry to say, Patrik, but we don’t believe you.

Though some misinterpreted the quote at first – believing it meant that the media would be blown away at how good the offers for Boeser had been – the rest of the press conference made it clear enough, with Allvin elaborating that “The biggest reason I felt that we didn’t do any moves here today was [that] there was not a whole lot of market return on our players.”

Many have already questioned the wisdom in publicizing this information if it is true. Nothing motivates a player more than saying, ‘Sorry, Brock, we tried to trade you, but none of the other 31 teams thought you were worth much, so I guess we’re stuck with one another.’

Who wouldn’t feel good knowing they were only staying in Vancouver because they weren’t wanted elsewhere?

The good news is that neither Boeser nor anyone else needs to dwell on these ill sentiments for very long. Because there’s just no way it’s true. Unless one’s threshold for “a whole lot of market return” was set ridiculously, preposterously high, there is little-to-no chance that the Canucks did not receive some compelling offers for their UFAs on Friday.

Because all of the other offers flying around definitely seemed both ridiculous and preposterous.

Remember Anthony Beauvillier? He was the throw-in piece in the Bo Horvat trade that looked decent on a line with Elias Pettersson for a half minute and then didn’t. When the Canucks got a conditional fifth-round pick back for Beauvillier in November of 2024, most Vancouver supporters were pleasantly surprised, having assumed that the team would have had to pay something to ditch his contract.

Fast forward to Friday, and Beauvillier was traded from his new home of Pittsburgh to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a second-round draft pick.

A second! For Anthony Beauvillier!

Now, to be fair, Beauvillier was having a bit of a bounce back for the Penguins, with 13 goals and 20 points in 63 games, up from the five goals and 17 points he accumulated across 60 games with three different teams last year.

But that’s not that much of an uptick, and it still shouldn’t have resulted in a second-round pick at the Trade Deadline.

The Capitals had more cap space than they spent. In fact, they’ve still got the $3 million or so it would have taken to accommodate Boeser’s salary with 50% retention, even post-deadline. They’re also still in possession of their first-round pick this year and all future years.

Are we really meant to believe that the Capitals weren’t willing to ship out a first instead of a second if they could upgrade their wing acquisition from Beauvillier to Boeser? Really?!

Of course, we can’t focus too much on one transaction. The prices were sky-high across the board.

Remember Cody Glass, the player everyone is very glad the Canucks did not draft instead of Elias Pettersson in 2017? He went for a third and change.

Was no team willing to up that offer to a second for a much better middle-six centre in Suter?

Scott Laughton, a third-line centre with 27 points in 60 games this season, went to Toronto for a first and a decent prospect.

Brandon Tanev, with his 17 points in 60 games, went for a second. For what it’s worth, Suter has nearly double the points and plays a more valuable position.

Former Canuck Luke Schenn, who the Canucks struggled to get a third round pick back for a couple deadlines ago, went for a second and a fourth despite being in the midst of a tough campaign.

Was no third-round pick then available for a similar player in Forbort?

What’s perhaps most frustrating is how the day itself played out. Folks like Brock Nelson came off the board prior to the deadline itself, and then the other major names, like Mikko Rantanen, became spoken for pretty quickly on deadline day. Some other names that weren’t moved as Jason Zucker re-signed in Buffalo, and the Chicago Blackhawks intend on extending Ryan Donato rather than put to market.

There were several hours during which Boeser was plainly the best rental winger available and during which Suter was plainly the best rental centre available. Heck, there were several hours in which Forbort was one of, if not exactly the best, rental defender available.

And we’re meant to believe that, during that span of several hours, no compelling offers came through the Canucks’ phonelines? That the only thing they received were offers so bad as to be literally unbelievable?

What about picks within the first two or three rounds? The same sort of assets the Canucks have turned into JT Miller, Filip Hronek, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Marcus Pettersson, and more in recent memory?

Elliotte Friedman would have us believe that, specifically, no first-round pick was offered for Boeser.

Based on what we’ve said and seen thus far, that seems hard to believe. But even if it were, does that mean that the Canucks did not receive any offers that equated to the value of a first round pick? A recently drafted first-rounder, or a prospect on the rise, perhaps.

If the Canucks were to state that the offers received were not good enough, or that they reasoned that the ‘self-rental’ value of the players they kept was greater than the value of the returns offered, that’s all well-and-good. It’s certainly, at least, more up for debate.

But if they expect us to believe that the only reason Boeser, Suter, and Forbort weren’t traded was because zero good offers were received, well then we do think it’s probably time for Allvin to lace up those running shoes.

The state of the market on Trade Deadline Day makes it impossible to believe.