The stove is heating up in Vancouver, and it’s only getting hotter from here on out.

The longer the Canucks get into the 2024/25 season, and the more it becomes evident that this roster, while good, is not quite good enough, the more a trade of some sort becomes inevitable.

Maybe that went without saying with GM Patrik Allvin, one of the most trade-prolific managers in the sport of hockey, at the helm. But it’s also true that, if they want to make the most of the opportunity afforded them by the talent already on the hand, the Canucks are going to need reinforcements, and those reinforcements are likely going to come via trade.

We’re always happy to talk trade targets. Right now, we’re in the middle of a series on which other NHL teams might offer some solutions to the Canucks’ current blueline needs. But it takes two to both trade and tango, and we’re all too often focused on the ‘incoming’ side of a potential transaction.

There’s also the cost to consider, and figuring that out requires a good look at those trade chips the Canucks can put on the table right now and throughout the rest of 2024/25 – and what those chips might be worth on the market.

The Canucks have already shipped out a lot of picks from recent and future draft classes. And those who haven’t been too happy with that should brace themselves, because the Canucks are almost certainly going to be dealing more picks before the year is out.

Obviously, when we’re talking draft picks as major trade chips, we’re talking primarily about first round selections. On that front, the Canucks are sitting pretty, still in possession of each of their first rounders in each draft year from here on out – at least for now.

First round picks have been rather important pieces for the Canucks in their recent history, having been exchanged for the likes of Elias Lindholm, an Oliver Ekman-Larsson/Conor Garland combo, and JT Miller.

We don’t yet know where the Canucks’ 2025 first round pick will fall, and we definitely don’t know where the next few will, but suffice it to say that, if the Canucks are trading a pick, it’s because it’s set to be slotted somewhere in the 20s, if not later. That certainly reduces the value of the pick somewhat, but then late firsts are still exchanged for valuable players on a yearly basis, and can form the foundation of a deal for just about anyone reasonable. These remain the Canucks best and easiest tradeable chips.

Second round picks can also be pretty valuable, and the Canucks have each of theirs for the next two years. The 2027 second round pick was traded to Chicago in the Ilya Mikheyev salary dump.

Based on last year’s acquisition of Nikita Zadorov in exchange for a third rounder, we have to assign those picks some genuine value, too. Unfortunately, the Canucks don’t have a third rounder in either 2025 (dealt to Montreal with Tanner Pearson in exchange for Casey DeSmith) or in 2026 (the aforementioned Zadorov deal). Their next third rounder will come in 2027.

Beyond that, mid-to-late round picks do hold some value, but not enough to merit much discussion in a roundup of trade chips.

It hasn’t always been the case in this franchise’s history, but the Canucks currently have a fairly nicely stocked prospect cupboard; one that includes plenty of young players that other teams might be interested in acquiring through trade.

The real trick here is figuring out which prospects they won’t or can’t trade.

Top of that list is Tom Willander. As one of the top RHD prospects in the world right now, Willander is a rare gem, and should be treated as such. The Canucks need his potential future (and maybe near-future) contributions too badly to part with him, despite the massive value he’d return.

The same is probably true, albeit to a lesser extent, for Jonathan Lekkerimäki. He’s easily the team’s best forward prospect and the only one in the system with any real top-line potential. Perhaps he could be wriggled free if the right player were offered, but the Canucks definitely aren’t going to be proactively putting Lekkerimäki on the table anytime soon.

We might also add Aatu Räty to the do-not-trade list. That’s based on his recent enormous growth as a player, and the fact that he’s still got some potential as a middle-six centre, something the team’s overall depth chart really lacks right now.

There are other valuable and exciting prospects that others might want to keep on hand. Names like Elias Pettersson the Second, Arturs Silovs, Kirill Kudryavtsev, and Sawyer Mynio. But the reality is that, if the Canucks are going to do any big-game hunting on the trade market, some of these names are going to have to come up. Often, draft picks only take one so far.

Fans like Pettersson’s ornery personality, they remember Silovs’ playoff heroics, they’re seeing Kudryavtsev’s rookie pro output, and they’re excited about the possibility of Mynio cracking Team Canada at the World Juniors. But each of these factors also conspire to make these prospects more valuable as trade chips, and that’s why their name might be out there in trade talks despite the fact they could each still have futures in the Vancouver depth chart.

We suspect management might be most hesitant to trade Silovs, with no obvious succession plan for Thatcher Demko beyond him at the current moment. But we wouldn’t call him untouchable by any means, nor anyone else we’ve listed here.

Same goes for the rest of the cupboard. There are other good prospects to be found, and some of them might have futures, too, but there’s nothing else there that would ‘move the needle’ in a trade of any real significance.

Where the Canucks really come up short is in the realm of roster players who might reasonably be traded. But that’s actually a good thing, because it means there’s a lot of players already on the team who they’d really rather not part with.

There are the core players who will not be traded while the team is competing, like Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, JT Miller, Brock Boeser, Filip Hronek, Thatcher Demko, and now probably Jake DeBrusk, too.

There’s a sub-class of very important players that are all currently part of the ‘plan,’ and thus very unlikely to be traded, like Garland, Dakota Joshua, Kiefer Sherwood, and Teddy Blueger. Honestly, just recently, Erik Brännström might also sneak into this category.

There are veterans on short-term contracts who might be tradeable, but who probably wouldn’t return all that much beyond mid-round picks. Names like Pius Suter, Danton Heinen, Derek Forbort, Vincent Desharnais, Noah Juulsen, and Kevin Lankinen.

Who else does that leave? Not much.

The second pairing of Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers falls into a bit of a no man’s land. In a league where there’s always a dearth of blueliners, both probably still have some trade value, even with their dismal performance as a pairing thus far in 2024/25. And if the team can acquire a blueline upgrade, they’d probably okay to move on from at least one of them.

Trading Myers right after signing him to a three-year presumed retirement contract seems unlikely. Soucy, however, could definitely be moved in the right deal, either to add a little value going back for a better defender or, perhaps, just to clear salary and roster space. He might be a bit of a reclamation project at this point, but he’s played well enough in recent years that someone will have interest.

But the only real trade chip the Canucks have that’s not a prospect or a pick is Nils Höglander. Despite breaking out for 24 goals last year, Höglander has still yet to find a permanent spot in the Canucks’ lineup, and seems to be in a bit of a doghouse this season, even after the Canucks signed him to a three-year extension.

Höglander is still bursting with offensive potential and possesses that very unique, wrecking ball-style profile. He’d undoubtedly hold significant value to a number of NHL teams, each of whom will be thinking they can do what Vancouver has not as of yet – make Höglander work consistently in the top-six.

And that’s pretty much it. The Canucks do indeed have plenty of trade chips on hand, but not so many that they can spend them freely or frivolously. This is a situation where GM Allvin and Co. will have to pick their target carefully, so as to spend the chips they do have appropriately. The limited quantity, matched with the importance of improving this roster, means that the team all these chips hold the most value to right now are the Canucks themselves.