NHL Betting Odds and Trade Deadline Rumours: Will the Vancouver Canucks add more firepower?
Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford has always focused on getting his work done early and he proved that again this season by acquiring bruising defenceman Nikita Zadorov in November and snagging the NHL’s biggest trade chip, centre Elias Lindholm, in January.
Could the Canucks continue to add ahead deadline day?
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Gunning for Guentzel?
Vancouver sits atop the NHL standings thanks to star players like Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller leading the way, but could the team add even more star power to the roster? There are growing rumours the Canucks are interested in Pittsburgh Penguins winger Jake Guentzel.
Guentzel is the most attractive trade chip currently on the market as he plays out the final year of a five-year contract that was actually given to him when Rutherford was the general manager in Pittsburgh. Things are complicated by the fact Guentzel has been sidelined since Feb. 14 due to an upper-body injury, but he’s back skating and is expected to return to the lineup sometime in the next few weeks.
Guentzel carries a $6 million cap hit, so the Canucks would need to move money out to make the deal work. Attaching Ilya Mikheyev’s $4.5 million salary as part of the deal would help and the Penguins could retain salary if the right picks and prospects were included.
Calling Calgary
Despite having a leading Vezina Trophy candidate in Thatcher Demko, the Canucks have allowed the third-most goals (43) in the NHL in the month of February, so strengthening the blue line is the main priority.
The Canucks are rumoured to have already tried to attach Flames defenceman Chris Tanev to the Lindholm trade, so they could circle back with Calgary as a way to bolster the blue line. Tanev is a right-shot defensive defenceman that provides grit and possibly more importantly, his contract fits with Vancouver’s salary cap situation.
There’s also the thought that you don’t want to tinker too much with a roster that has played as well as Vancouver has played this season, so reuniting Tanev and Zadorov provides some familiarity and presumably some already established chemistry.
