Allvin On Canucks Trade Rumors: 'I owe it to the players'

The NHL trade season is officially in full swing, and the Vancouver Canucks are going to be heavily involved this year, by the looks of it.

The Canucks have already made moves early this season to address their defensive weaknesses, adding Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames and Mark Friedman from the Pittsburgh Penguins. With the Lotto Line reuniting to form Vancouver's top forward unit, the team's need for secondary scoring has increased tenfold. Penguins forward Jake Guentzel has widely been proposed as a fit there, particularly due to his connections to president Jim Rutherford, head coach Rick Tocchet, and general manager Patrik Allvin.

Speaking of Allvin, it appears the Swede already has a plan in place for how the Canucks will attack the trade deadline. Top prospects like Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Tom Willander will be off the table, but he plans to stay aggressive otherwise. “I think I owe it to the players," Allvin said. "We know that they are capable of playing at this high level. And if they continue to do that, it's on me to support them and give them opportunities to be successful.”

With Brock Boeser, J.T. Miller, and Elias Pettersson all together on the top line, the second line of Pius Suter, Ilya Mikheyev, and Andrei Kuzmenko has gone goal-less in their last six games together. These guys are all great players in their own rights, but no goals in six games is not going to fly when it comes to the postseason, and especially not when it comes to winning championships.

It seems as though Allvin is committed to bringing a Stanley Cup to Vancouver this year, no matter the cost (with some exceptions, as noted above). The Canucks, apparently, still need to convince Pettersson to stay with the team beyond this season, and winning meaningful games is a good place to start.