A whole lot has happened in the National Hockey League in the last 24 hours.

Here’s an extremely short recap:

That’s a lot of crazy moves by NHL teams in the lead-up to Friday’s draft, and there are rumours of even more big deals coming. And it puts the Canucks and their third overall pick in an interesting spot.

Let’s start with the team directly in front of them. The Sharks just gave up a young top-line winger coming off a 50-point season to Ottawa for another top ten pick, a stunning move that seemingly implies they’re about to replace him with someone like Ivar Stenberg. But the Sharks are listening to potential offers for the second overall pick, and, sitting one pick behind them in third overall, the Canucks have options. But they don’t seem prepared to offer anything the Sharks need.

The price for defenders is insanely high right now, to the point where even the defending Cup champion Hurricanes are exploring the market for Alexander Nikishin. And if the Canucks aren’t willing to part with their best tradeable asset in Filip Hronek, they risk missing out on the draft pick bonanza going on. They are listening to offers on players like Jake DeBrusk, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson, but forwards coming off down years aren’t going to fetch nearly the same type of return as a right-shot defenceman.

On the other side of things, the Blackhawks and Flames are desperately trying to push past years of futility and are overpaying to make it happen. Teams like them are looking for help in every department, and the Canucks have a few players who could use a change of scenery and garner a decent return. But the number of teams looking for help is only going to get smaller the longer Ryan Johnson and his staff wait. And the list of good trade options leading up to the draft and free agency is only getting larger by the hour.

Teams like the Capitals are loading up for the now, and teams like the Sabres are trying to take advantage and recoup assets for the long term. The Canucks have to be willing to part with more than just the underperformers if they want to gain the kind of assets that teams like the Sabres, Sharks and Blues have.

If the Canucks are willing to let go of their best trade assets, there’s a trade market full of teams waiting to deal picks and prospects. They just have to come to that conclusion before it’s too late.