4 Canucks not named Miller or Boeser that could be traded this offseason

The Stanley Cup Final is set and the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning will compete for Lord Stanley’s prize. For the Vancouver Canucks and 30 other NHL teams it is the offseason and GMs are looking ahead to next season.

This offseason looks to be very interesting. It is the first for Patrik Allvin as the Canucks General Manager and Jim Rutherford as President of Hockey Operations as well as numerous staff members that Rutherford brought in.

Rutherford was brought up on the Bob McCown Podcast on Thursday. The podcast’s co-host and hockey insider John Shannon and guest Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet and former NHL player spoke about Rutherford’s offseason plans for the Canucks.

“Nothing would surprise me with Jim Rutherford in Vancouver,” said Shannon.

“It’s broken, he [Rutherford] knows it’s broken,” said Kypreos.

“Jim has gone in there with a plan, he’s taking his time with the plan,” said Shannon. “The two key dates for him are what he can do on the draft floor on [July 7 and 8] with a couple of his star players, and what he wants to do in free agency. [starts on July 13].”

Then Kypreos made some interesting comments about Rutherford and the Canucks locker room.

“He’s going to make a splash, said Kypreos. “He’s going to change it up. He doesn’t like the room, thinks it’s a country club in there…There’s going to be a different look within six months for this team.”

A country club is obviously a place for mainly wealthy folk to relax. Kypreos’ comments could mean the players are too relaxed and aren’t taking things seriously. Take it with a grain of salt but that is a problem if it’s true.

However, Kypreos’ comments on Rutherford making a splash does seem likely. (But Allvin is the GM, not Rutherford. He does get a say in things though.) Both Kypreos and Shannon mentioned the Canucks core consists of Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko and Bo Horvat. So that means everyone else on the team may or may not be a Canuck by October.

J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser have been brought up in the trade rumours for months and it looks like at least one of them will be on a different team this season.

Other than those two, let’s take a look at four other Canucks that could be dealt this offseason

#1: Tanner Pearson

Tanner Pearson signed a three-year extension worth 3.25 million in April of 2021. Many Canucks fans did not like that at all.

Pearson may not be a 20-goal scorer but he proved to be effective in other ways last season. He displayed good forechecking ability all season and was good at winning the puck battles. Pearson also was fourth on the Canucks who played at least 500 minutes last season in Corsi For percentage, second in scoring chances for percentage and third in high danger Corsi for percentage at 5 on 5 according to NaturalStatTrick.

The 29-year-old has some value on the trade market. The contract may not be great but some teams could like what Pearson does in a top-nine role.

Rutherford isn’t a fan of Pearson as he did trade him away when he was in Pittsburgh.

If Pearson is getting traded, don’t expect a spectacular return. It will probably be for a couple of mid to late round picks.

#2: Jason Dickinson

Jason Dickinson has been a disappointment in Vancouver.

The Canucks traded a third round pick to get him last summer. They did that hoping Dickinson would be a responsible defensive centre on the third line and the penalty kill. It’s safe to say he has not been that at all. Dickinson has been a defensive liability and has been very poor in the faceoff circle.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff put both Dickinson and Pearson at 18 on his latest trade targets list.

Pearson may have some value but Dickinson has less. He also has two years left on his contract at 2.6 million dollars per season. At this point, the Canucks might as well take anything for Dickinson.