Top 3 forwards the Canucks missed out on at the NHL trade deadline

Pavel Buchnevich could have completed the Canucks in 2024

The one major downside with Pavel Buchnevich is that he would have cost Patrik Allvin a lot in compensation, and perhaps Allvin just didn’t want to give it up. In most seasons, that would be acceptable, but when you’re one of the best teams in the NHL, and at times, the best team, and a player like Buchnevich is available, you need to make a serious push for and land him. 

Sure, he would have cost some money to keep around for the remainder of this season and next season with a cap hit of $5.8 million, but think about how well players like J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Connor Garland, and even blueliners like Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek would have benefited from Buchnevich’s presence. No Elias Lindholm, you ask? There’s a reason for that. 

Even if Buchnevich left the Canucks with a cash-strapped situation, there were still ways to make a trade like this happen, and someone with Buchnevich’s ability would have immediately reverted the Canucks back into the league’s highest-scoring team. 

Plus, they also could have found a team to flip the ineffective Elias Lindholm to. And given the way Lindholm’s played since his arrival in Vancouver, Buchnevich would have made for a major upgrade.