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What recent trades from around the NHL should the Canucks be looking to emulate?
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Stephan Roget
Apr 9, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 9, 2026, 12:23 EDT
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We’ve spent a lot of digital ink talking about potential trades from the Vancouver Canucks this 2025-26 season, and with good reason. Transaction-wise, this has been an exceptionally busy year for the Canucks, and it only projects to get busier from here on out. Keep in mind, this was the team that made five different trades at or around the Trade Deadline, and was still less active than most anticipated.
When talking about trades from a Canucks-exclusive point of view, it’s easy enough to lose the forest for the trees. There is, after all, a wide world of NHL transactions out there, and most of them don’t involve the Canucks at all. So, today, we thought we’d try for a different perspective.
There are two ways to look at the trades we’ve compiled today. One is a bit of a motivational board – a list of trades that have made a major positive difference for the teams who made them, so as to suggest that these are the sorts of trades the Canucks should also look to make moving forward (although, of course, that’s always easier said than done).
Another way to look at it is as a source of hope. As in, if the Canucks absolutely nail their trades in the coming year and beyond, look at what all the positive differences that could be made for this franchise.
Anyway, this is some of the best of the best from the rest of the NHL trade market of late. (Note: our time period for this was the last two seasons, and we tried to stick to the sorts of trades that seem within the Canucks’ current wheelhouse.)
February 1, 2025: Vancouver Canucks acquire defenceman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor from the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Danton Heinen, defenseman Vincent Desharnais, forward prospect Melvin Fernstrom, and a 1st-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
This wasn’t meant to be a Kyle Dubas fan piece, but the longer it goes, the more it is going to take that shape. Simply put, the Penguins are not quite rebuilding yet, but they’re still arguably doing a better job of it than the Canucks, at least in terms of their trades.
What we like about what the Penguins did here is packaging a couple of veteran assets to absolutely maximize their trade value. In this case, Pettersson and O’Connor were, on their own, not worth a first-round pick (especially not one that ended up being 12th overall). But, packaged together and combined with a couple of cap dumps in Heinen and Desharnais, Pettersson and O’Connor did return a first. It’s the sort of creative combination a team might need to get their hands on some extra high picks.
The Penguins then turned that first-round pick into two later first-round picks to cap it all off.
March 1, 2025: Florida Panthers acquire defenceman Seth Jones and a 4th-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft from the Chicago Blackhawks for goaltender Spencer Knight and a 1st-round pick in 2026.
What the Blackhawks did here was take an overpriced, underperforming veteran asset tied to a lengthy contract, and still somehow manage to derive great value from them in a trade – in this case, a potential franchise goalie and a first-round pick that is now set to be far higher than anyone expected it to be.
They did this, primarily, by retaining $2.5 million of Jones’ salary. Had they not done that, Jones might have been seen as a borderline cap dump. Instead, he became a sought-after asset and returned a premium return.
How could the lesson of biting the bullet on retention in order to maximize the return of an overpaid, over-termed asset apply to the Canucks? Gee, we wonder…
July 2, 2024: Anaheim Ducks acquire defenceman Brian Dumoulin from the Seattle Kraken for a 4th-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
and
March 6, 2025: New Jersey Devils acquire defenceman Brian Dumoulin from Anaheim Ducks for forward Herman Traff, and 2nd-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Here’s a two-parter that shows exactly what we’d like the Canucks to do this offseason in terms of acquiring flippable veterans. The Ducks brought in a veteran defender in Dumoulin for the low price of a fourth-round pick, got a season of use out of him, and then flipped him at the next deadline as a pending UFA for a second-round pick.
That’s the sort of surplus value the Canucks could really use as they restock their prospect cabinet. It’s just as easy as picking the right vets to target and then being comfortable moving on from them relatively quickly.
March 7, 2025: Toronto Maple Leafs acquire defenceman Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins for forward Fraser Minten, a conditional 1st-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and a 4th-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
It’s a little bit cheap of us to pick out one of the most one-sided trades in recent history and say, “Okay, Canucks, do one of those!” But there’s simply a lot to like about what the Bruins pulled off here. In trading Carlo (with a smidgen of retention), the Bruins targeted a first-round draft pick from a team with an uncertain future in the Maple Leafs. Sure, the Bruins probably didn’t predict the Leafs would fall off this hard, but it was a wise bet all the same. On top of that, the Bruins targeted a centre prospect who was not considered top-flight at the time, but had upside all the same. Minten has since blossomed into a future top-six NHL talent, which is why it’s a great idea to bet on upside, especially for players just a couple of years separated from their drafts.
July 10, 2025: Pittsburgh Penguins acquire defenceman Matt Dumba, 2nd-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft from Dallas Stars for defenceman Vladislav Kolyachonok.
Another example here of stocking up on valuable draft picks by simply spending cap space (that probably wasn’t going to be spent otherwise, anyway). The Penguins intended to stash Dumba in the minors in exchange for a second, and did exactly that, though they’ve also got a little bit of use out of him at the NHL level this season, too.
Either way, they’re one pick richer than they were before.
January 16, 2026: Anaheim Ducks acquire forward Jeffrey Viel from the Boston Bruins for a 4th-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
This one is a little different than the rest of the list. We’ve talked before about how many want to see the Canucks increase their team toughness this offseason. If you can’t beat ‘em, at least beat ‘em up.
Here, the Ducks didn’t just go out and acquire any old pugilist; they specifically targeted one in Viel who they felt fit in with their playstyle and could contribute on a regular basis. The end result is that Viel has already delivered a fine return on the fourth-round pick paid for him and has helped make the Ducks even harder to play against.
This is a testament to the fact that it’s not just about adding toughness to a roster, but the right kind of toughness – and that it might be okay paying a small price for that privilege.
January 27, 2026: New York Islanders acquire forward Ondrej Palat, a 3rd-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and a 6th-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft from New Jersey Devils for forward Maxim Tsyplakov.
More of the right kind of cap dump. The Islanders took on Palat, got two picks for doing so, and only gave up a young player who was going to end up on waivers soon, anyway. They then granted Palat a spot in their top-six, getting some good play out of him and juicing his value at the same time. With Palat on the last year of his contract next season, watch the Islanders flip him again for yet another pick toward the Trade Deadline.
December 12, 2025: Edmonton Oilers acquire goalie Tristan Jarry and forward Samuel Poulin from the Pittsburgh Penguins for goalie Stuart Skinner, defenceman Brett Kulak, and a 2nd-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft
and
February 24, 2026: Pittsburgh Penguins acquire defenceman Sam Girard and a 2nd-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft from the Colorado Avalanche for defenceman Brett Kulak.
There are a number of these sorts of trades on this list, but this is the real masterclass. The Penguins swapped questionable goalies with the Oilers and somehow ended up with A) the better goalie, B) a second-round pick, and C) a useful veteran defender. They then flipped that veteran defender for another veteran defender and a second-round pick.
In other words, they got paid two second-round picks to ultimately wind up with the better players, anyway. Watch the Penguins flip Girard at some point in the future for a tidy profit, and this really becomes a case of a found fortune for Pittsburgh.
March 4, 2026: Edmonton Oilers acquire forwards Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks for forward Andrew Mangiapane and a conditional 1st-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
We already wrote a whole article about this one and how it reflected upon the Canucks, so we won’t rehash too much of it here. But the Blackhawks – who once got paid a second-round pick just to take Dickinson on – sent him, as a pending UFA, to the Oilers for a conditional first. All they had to do to secure that price was have cap space available and be willing to use it on a dump in the form of Mangiapane.
Again, we expect the Blackhawks will go on to flip Mangiapane one more time at some point in the future, now that he’s on the last year of his contract, and thus should add to their total profit nicely.
March 5, 2026: Vegas Golden Knights acquire forward Nic Dowd from the Washington Capitals for goalie Jesper Vikman, a 3rd-round pick, in the 2027 NHL Draft and a 2nd-round pick in 2029.
A couple more Trade Deadline 2026 moves to round out our list. This one stands as a great testament to how much depth pieces can be sold for, so long as they’re the right depth pieces and are marketed the right way. The Capitals were ready to move on from bottom-six centre Dowd, so they turned him into a prospect, a second, and a third. That’s an excellent return on investment, and something the Canucks haven’t achieved with their own depth as of yet. Players like Kiefer Sherwood were expected to return value like this, but getting the same sort of return for a pure depth piece is where the real surplus assets can be found.
March 6, 2026: Buffalo Sabres acquire defencemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn from the Winnipeg Jets for forward Isak Rosen, defenceman Jacob Bryson, a 2nd-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft, and a conditional 4th-round pick in 2026.
For those who want the Canucks to get bigger and meaner this offseason, here’s one more reason why. The Jets were able to take two pending UFA defenders, one of whom is having a decent season (Stanley) and one of whom is having an awful season (Schenn) and turn them into a high-profile prospect, a second, and some spare change.
Why? Because Stanley and Schenn are huge, physical, and play what’s perceived as a playoff style. Such players always seem to be in high demand come deadline time, and perhaps it’s time to start thinking ahead by bringing in such players for the express purpose of eventually flipping them at a tidy profit.
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