Staying Competitive While Selling at the Deadline

Team: 2021-22 Vancouver Canucks

Initial Creation Date: Jan. 17, 2022

Published: Jan. 18, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Defensive restructuring is very important to get the Canucks to a Stanley Cup contention level. The trade deadline is a great spot to start the movement for this.

Per Frank Seravalli, the Rangers have been all over the Miller talks. NYR has a huge surplus of RHD and apparently value Schneider more than Lundkvist. If this is true, the Canucks NEED to have him as part of a package for Miller. He is the exact type of defenseman the right side of the Canucks defense desperately needs and Bruce Boudreau has been clamoring for.

Continuing on the theme of the tire-fire right side of the Canucks defense, if there is any possibility to trade one of Poolman or Hamonic, it needs to be done. Even if at worst case scenario it's a swap of either of those two for a forward or another defenseman with a bad contract it has to be explored. If they can't be traded then, as Elliotte Freidman said on Donnie and Dhali, a guy like Luke Schenn could garner some interest with a late round pick. You have to do that if there's interest and you still have Poolman and Hamonic on the team.

Motte is another piece that should be moved and teams that have seen what he can do in the playoffs (and could be interested) are St. Louis, Minnesota, and Vegas. I'm not sure the exact return he could salvage, but a 3rd Round Pick, or if a bidding war happens, a 2nd Round Pick would be adequate.

Lastly, we saw teams like San Jose and Columbus use their remaining cap space to broker three way deals where they retain 25% of salary for players in exchange for a mid round pick. Canucks should 100% be in on this. Look at candidates like Joe Pavelski, Claude Giroux, Marc-Andre Fleury (not if he's going to EDM), or Giordano.

I'd love to hear your opinions on these moves or see other potential ways the Canucks could acquire assets while staying competitive!

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