The Vancouver Canucks' long-standing search to find a top-six forward on the NHL trade market has not exactly gone according to plan, apparently, which means it could be time for Plan B.
And by Plan B, I mean Plan Brock. As in, Brock Boeser.
It's been rumored that the Canucks have at least some interest in Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi, who could reasonably slot in as the de facto No. 2 center behind Elias Pettersson and ahead of a healthy Filip Chytil.
The only issue is that the Philadelphia Flyers don't want to pay up for Rossi or sign him to his rumored ask on the contract front, and that's a team with a lot of draft capital and a lot of cap space. So, odds are the Canucks aren't going to go there either.
A potential solution could be a happily-ever-after with Boeser, who indeed is not a center but is better and more productive than the majority of the free agent market this year, unless you're willing to double his salary and give it to Mitch Marner.
Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal raised the possibility of a Boeser reunion on his "Donnie & Dhali" show Friday, as a small chance is technically better than no chance at all.
"Just keep an eye on Boeser. I don't think the Canucks are 100% out on this, and we'll keep an eye on him," Dhaliwal said dubiously.
Leading up to that, Dhaliwal raised some germane points regarding the Canucks' treatment of Boeser that got them in this situation to begin with.
"Two Pittsburgh Penguins come to town [Drew O'Connor and Marcus Pettersson] and they sign both of them with in two weeks," Dhaliwal said. "And then Allvin's comments at the trade deadline about Brock, I mean, that didn't go over well with the Boeser camp."
So, there is an argument to be made about whether the Canucks are making a mistake having Boeser walk the plank this offseason after failing to move him at the deadline.
In theory, a reunion does make some sense for both sides, especially given that the Canucks cannot easily replace him. But time will tell the story sooner rather than later.