Look, we get it. Everyone experiences some level of FOMO, otherwise known as the Fear Of Missing Out. And when a day like Tuesday happens in the NHL, and your own favourite franchise doesn’t do anything, it’s only natural to feel that FOMO.

Tuesday, June 23, 2026, will forever go down in the history books as the day of four blockbuster trades out of nowhere. The headlines just kept hitting fast and furious.

While folks were still processing the trade that sent Brady Tkachuk to Florida for a bounty of draft picks, one of those draft picks, the ninth overall, was moved from the Ottawa Senators to San Jose in exchange for William Eklund and two prospects. Then former second overall pick Simon Nemec and Maksim Tsyplakov got dealt from New Jersey to Calgary for two future first round picks, a 2026 second, and a prospect. Then Jordan Kyrou went to Washington for a gigantic package of Connor McMichael, the 16^th overall, and a prospect. And then the Chicago Blackhawks made that gigantic package look puny in comparison by sending the fourth overall pick, the 45^th overall pick, and Louis Crevier to Buffalo in exchange for Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway.

It was a day featuring more sizeable trades than most Trade Deadline Days in recent years. And if you were part of any Canucks-related group chat or text thread on Tuesday, you no doubt heard a little bit of that FOMO being expressed as the rest of the NHL seemed to be getting down to business.

“Come on, Canucks, do something.” “What is Ryan Johnson waiting for?” “*meme of a guy poking an orca with a stick*” Surely, we all experienced some version of this on Tuesday, whether it was inside our own minds or uttered by others.

But as natural and understandable as these feelings are, they’re probably a little wrong-headed when it comes to the Canucks. The Canucks don’t really have much reason to get in on this latest frenzy of transactions, or really to make any trades right away. They’re on a much longer timeline than most other teams in the NHL, and that should allow them some patience.

The reason so many trades are happening this week is clearly the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, which gets started on Friday. For teams like the Sabres, Sharks, and Blues, who acquired 2026 draft picks in their deals, it was obviously imperative to get that done before Friday.

The Canucks, meanwhile, already have a good amount of picks in 2026. They’ve got four selections in the top-50, at third, 24^th, 33^rd, and 41^st overall. Sure, they would probably like more draft picks, on the whole, but there’s no real reason for them to target 2026 picks, specifically. For one, it’s generally considered to be a relatively weak draft year. For another, the expected length of the Canucks’ rebuild means they’ll be adding talent through the draft for years to come.

Yes, the Canucks need more draft picks. But they should be just as happy to add those picks in the 2027 draft, the 2028 draft, the 2029 draft, and maybe even beyond that. Thus, there’s no real push for them to pick up any of those picks before Friday.

Some of these trades were also likely inspired by contractual deadlines. Byram, for example, is a UFA in about one year’s time, and becomes eligible for an extension as of July 1. Buffalo clearly wanted to deal him before that came to pass, and they seem to have succeeded in cashing him in at about his maximal value. Nemec, on the other hand, is an RFA who the Devils plainly did not want to give a sizeable extension to, so they traded him to someone who did.

The Canucks don’t really have any such pressures on their end. Most of their veteran pieces are locked into lengthy, unchanging contracts already. And many of them only stand to gain value from here, not lose it.

Someone like Jake DeBrusk is getting a lot of interest around the league right now. And if another team were to offer up something like a first round pick before Friday to land him, the Canucks would probably say ‘yes.’

But the Canucks also have the luxury of just waiting until those offers get better, and do not need to see this coming draft as any sort of deadline for that. In fact, if they just wait until after July 1, a whole bunch of exorbitant UFA contracts are going to be signed, and DeBrusk’s contract is probably going to start looking even better in comparison. The offers might reasonably get better post-draft and post-free agency, which means that teams can either pay up now, or the Canucks can wait until they do.

This same notion could apply to a lot of the Canucks’ other potential tradeables, including Elias Pettersson. And anyone near the end of their contract, like say Drew O’Connor, is only going to add value between now and the next deadline.

Something that can have an impact on the timing of trades are no-movement clauses and no-trade clauses. Part of the Canucks wanting to deal Conor Garland ahead of the most recent Trade Deadline was to avoid his NMC kicking in as of July 1.

But that’s far less a factor for these current Canucks. With Garland gone, the only Canuck adding a clause this offseason is Thatcher Demko, who will pick up a NMC as of his new extension starting on July 1.

There’s been some talk of trading Demko before that clause kicks in, but due to a variety of factors, that is extremely unlikely. And beyond Demko, the Canucks’ various clauses are going to stay consistent for at least the next year.

The new front office, consisting of GM Ryan Johnson and co-POHOs Henrik and Daniel Sedin, came in on a message of patience. Put all these factors we’ve talked about together, and it’s easy enough to see why they can afford to apply that patience to the current trade market. As fun as trades are, and as much FOMO is induced by other teams making blockbusters, the Canucks should have their sights set several years down the road.

The trades will come. They have to come. But they don’t have to come right now, and waiting for the right opportunities is still the correct approach.