According to a report from Matt Sekeres of TSN 1040, the Vancouver Canucks are looking at the idea of trading star winger Brock Boeser.
The NHL and NHLPA signed off on the new CBA and return to play plan on Friday, but it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns for Vancouver Canucks fans.
On Friday afternoon, Matt Sekeres of TSN 1040 (h/t Rick Dhaliwal) reported that Vancouver is “exploring the possibility of trading” fan favourite and star right winger Brock Boeser.
You just needed to take one short scroll through Twitter to see the disgruntled and concerned reactions from Canucks Nation. Boeser has been viewed as a valuable long-term part of this young core, after all.
The report from Sekeres was quite stunning, to say the least. It’s very rare for a young star entering his prime (Boeser turned 23 in January) to be traded. Teams usually look to build around these types of players, not trade them.
Sekeres’ report has led to speculation that Vancouver is keen on re-signing Tyler Toffoli, whom they acquired from the Los Angeles Kings at the trade deadline. Consider the following tweet from Thomas Drance of The Athletic:
Fascinating.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) July 10, 2020
There are better ways to navigate the cap than jettisoning Boeser. The #Canucks know this.
If there’s a Boeser deal after the season it would be motivated more by potential return than by dire cap math.
I do think the club has come to rate Toffoli more highly: https://t.co/tO3c6nFKgX
With a cap crunch looming, there’s little to no cap room for general manager Benning to re-sign Toffoli. Him and Boeser are both right-handed snipers with the ability to score 30-plus goals and 50-plus points in a season. There’s no reason to pay boatloads of money to both.
If the Canucks were to re-sign Toffoli before the start of free agency, it would only fuel the Boeser trade rumors. But do you really want to prioritize a 28-year-old over a 23-year-old who has a higher upside?
Not to mention that Boeser has proven to be a grade-A fit on the top line with Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller. Does Benning really want to break up the team chemistry that the big three displayed?
Benning simply doesn’t have enough cap space to re-sign Toffoli, top goalie Jacob Markstrom and defenceman Chris Tanev. If he’s looking to clear room, the best case scenario would see him move out a more expensive veteran like Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, Brandon Sutter or Antoine Roussel.
At any rate, it promises to be a very intriguing offseason for Benning and company. For now, the Canucks are focused on preparing for the best-of-five qualifying round matchup with the Minnesota Wild.