We’re still not quite a month into the 2026-27 NHL season, and so it might seem a little too early to be talking about the Vancouver Canucks selling off players. That said, the Canucks have also lost their last eight games in a row and have now sunk down to the lowest points percentage in the league with a paltry .227 – a number significantly lower than the .354 that had them in last place last year. The Canucks are on pace for about 40 points this season.

So, maybe it’s not too early to talk about selling. It’s a bit of an inevitability at this point.

There are a number of players that the Canucks might consider parting with in exchange for future-based assets this season, but today we’re going to focus solely on their collection of pending UFAs.

For each of these players, we’ve tried to assess their current trade value, as well as a best- and worst-case scenario for where their value might get to by the 2027 NHL Trade Deadline in March.

That the Canucks will be selling is all but guaranteed. How much they get back when they do, however, is still very much up in the air.

Current Trade Value: We listed these pending UFAs by cap hit, and immediately wished we didn’t, because it put the most complicated player first on the list. Chytil the player has a lot of skill, and that skill has value – enough value to have made Chytil a central component in the trade for JT Miller less than two years back. But injury after injury has muddied the picture ever since.

Chytil has looked pretty good so far, but it’s less about how he looks and more about how long he stays in the lineup. For right now, Chytil probably returns a third-round pick from a team desperate for scoring depth at the very most, and that’s probably being generous. The injury factor is so prevalent here. Maybe we should be saying a fourth-round pick instead.

Best-Case Scenario: If Chytil stays in the lineup from now until the Trade Deadline and continues to score at his usual career pace of 0.5 PPG or more, his value should tick up considerably. At that point, the team trading for him would only need a couple more healthy months out of him, and that’s probably worth betting on for a number of teams, especially with the market likely to be light on centres.

We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves here, but a healthy Chytil who is scoring regularly feasibly returns a second-round pick, and maybe slightly more.

Worst-Case Scenario: Another serious injury, and Chytil might not even be available for trade. Even if he’s technically healthy by the deadline, but has suffered through another injury-plagued year, it is feasible that the Canucks can’t find any suitors for Chytil, and have to hang on to him until his contract expires in July.

Current Trade Value: Gallagher’s point totals look ugly, but then he wasn’t exactly brought in to score this year. Gallagher holds a sort of inherent value as an energy-provider and agitator on the fourth line, and that’s something that plenty of teams could find use for under the right scenarios.

Gallagher’s trade value isn’t much – otherwise, the Canadiens wouldn’t have needed to retain on his contract in order to give him to Vancouver for free this summer. For now, it’s probably around a fourth-round pick or so.

Best-Case Scenario: Gallagher’s value should increase the closer we get to the playoffs, and that’s almost regardless of how he’s playing. Gallagher just seems like the exact type of veteran warrior a team might like to add for a playoff run.

There’s also the possibility that the Canucks retain a further 50% on Gallagher’s contract, if they move him, and that would only increase his potential return.

Then you add in the chance that Gallagher might start scoring a bit more as the season wears on, and if that happens, he suddenly becomes a much hotter commodity.

If all goes well, Gallagher could easily return a third-round pick, and perhaps an additional mid-tier prospect on top of that.

Worst-Case Scenario: It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which zero playoff-bound teams want Gallagher, even if it’s just as a locker room presence and postseason scratch. But if he only puts up the ten-or-so points he’s pacing for, the Canucks are probably looking at a fifth or lower, at which point they might just keep him for mentorship purposes.

Current Trade Value: O’Connor is off to a fairly lacklustre start to the 2026-27 season. But he did score a career-high 17 goals just last year, so the value he gained through that probably hasn’t faded away quite yet. O’Connor’s move to centre is another interesting factor that should gain him value over time, but perhaps not until he’s more comfortable there. For now, O’Connor probably comes in at a third-round pick and change, but he’s also got a lot of flex factor in that value.

Best-Case Scenario: If O’Connor can get back to his relative scoring pace of last year, his value goes up considerably. And if he can get back to that scoring pace while playing and finding regular success at the centre position, that’s doubly true.

A fast, forechecking, 6’4” centre who can play on the PK? That’s a real Trade Deadline rental target if we’ve ever seen one, and this one comes at a fairly minimal cap hit.

If O’Connor turns his season around, he’s looking at a decent second-round pick return at a minimum, and probably some additional sweeteners on top of that due to a bidding process. We want to say his value could grow as high as a late first, but that might be a bridge too far.

Worst-Case Scenario: If O’Connor continues to struggle to score, his past exploits and natural traits will still give him some value. It’s hard to see that value dipping below the range of a third-round pick, which is about where we’ve got it set currently.

Current Trade Value: At this point in his career, Schenn is what he is, and that’s someone who still does a few things very well, and is otherwise probably not an every-night NHL player. That complicates his value. Last year, Schenn and fellow pending UFA Logan Stanley went to the Sabres at the deadline for a good prospect, a second, a fourth, and a depth defender. Stanley himself represented a great chunk of that value, and Schenn’s portion probably amounts to a third.

It’s hard to imagine a team paying that much again for him, however, especially given that the Sabres ultimately only used him in two postseason games. For now, Schenn’s value is somewhere south of that, probably around a fourth round pick.

Best-Case Scenario: Schenn is in control of his destiny with a full NMC, but let’s imagine that he decides he wants another playoff run under his belt and okays a trade to any postseason-bound team. And let’s also imagine that he starts to play a little better with more time in the lineup.

At that point, Schenn probably returns at least a third again, and maybe a bit more if a team is specifically looking for truculence. It’s the same price the Canucks got back for him at the 2023 deadline, but now it would feel more appropriate.

Worst-Case Scenario: The worst-case scenario is that Schenn doesn’t want to move at the deadline, and so he doesn’t. Can’t have a trade value when you can’t get traded.

Current Trade Value: Cotter is off to the best start of his career, and it’s not just the stats. He also passes the eye test most nights. That, plus him taking more shifts at centre than usual, has already upped his trade value considerably. At this moment, he’s worth at least a second-round pick on the dollars-for-value factor alone. Of all the Canucks’ current UFAs, Cotter has both the most current value and the most potential value later on in the year.

Best-Case Scenario: If Cotter continues at this pace, it’s hard to put a cap on his value. Even if he tapers off a bit, he feels like a lock to return at least a little more than a second-round pick by the deadline.

Are there scenarios in which Cotter returns a first? Yes, but that would require him to keep up the pace, put up at least 40 points by then, and stay mostly at the centre position. That’s a lot to ask, but it is at least possible.

Worst-Case Scenario: If Cotter slips back to his usual scoring pace of about 25 points a year, he’ll still have value as a high-quality bottom-six addition to virtually any playoff roster. Maybe his value slips a little bit from where it currently is, but it’s hard to see Cotter going for any less than a third after what he’s accomplished so far. If the Canucks can unlock this level of play in Cotter, a lot of other teams will think they can, too.

Current Trade Value: Brisebois probably doesn’t have any current trade value, which is not a slight against him. It’s just reality for an NHL/AHL tweener of which there are countless spread across the NHL.

Worst-Case Scenario: No trade offers, business as usual, and yet another full season in the books for the Canucks’ longest-tenured asset.

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