Canucks: A Brock Boeser trade won’t happen any time soon

Brock Boeser’s name has surfaced in trade rumours. Even if the Vancouver Canucks were to trade him, it wouldn’t happen any time soon.

As the Vancouver Canucks prepare to resume the 2019-20 season against the Minnesota Wild in two weeks, fans continue to wonder about Brock Boeser‘s future with the team.

Last week, TSN 1040’s Matt Sekeres (h/t Rick Dhaliwal) reported that Vancouver was exploring a possible trade involving the 23-year-old. As expected, this led to plenty of agitation among the Canucks fan base.

General manager Jim Benning was quick to shut down the Boeser trade rumours, adding that he is unsure where it “comes from.”

The Canucks are about to enter a serious salary cap problem, and Benning is going to have to try to move out some expensive forwards. Otherwise, it’ll be hard for him to retain any of the key pending UFAs — goalie Jacob Markstrom, top-six forward Tyler Toffoli and defenceman Chris Tanev.

Blueliner Troy Stecher and forwards Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette are also pending RFAs. So if Benning gets desperate, he may have no choice but to move out a key roster player. Even if it comes to that, it won’t be Boeser.

Just ask yourself this: Why would Benning trade a cornerstone player, in the early stages of his prime, just as the team begins to grow into a playoff contender? Not to mention that Boeser is on a team-friendly three-year bridge deal worth $17.625 million.

Boeser was on his way to a third straight 20-goal and 50-point season. If healthy, he’s capable of pushing for 35-plus goals. Why would Benning even consider the possibility of trading a young star?

One might think that Benning could look to trade Boeser for a top-four blueliner. Well, now Benning has to add that blueliner to his payroll. Such a trade would do very little to fix the salary cap problem.

So if Benning is truly desperate, he has two easier options: Bid farewell to at least two of his pending UFAs, or cut your losses and attach a sweetener (a prospect or a draft pick) with somebody like Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle or Loui Eriksson in a possible trade to clear cap room.

NHL general managers almost never admit if they’re shopping a player. But fans have good reason to believe Benning when he says he isn’t looking to trade Boeser.

Why? Because the Vancouver general manager knows that trading Boeser would set this team back more just as they’re getting closer to contending for a championship.