The Vancouver Canucks were looking to trade center Filip Chytil once again at the NHL trade deadline, but the Ottawa Senators had other plans with a center of their own.
Josh Norris, as we know now, was sent off to the Buffalo Sabres in the Dylan Cozens trade, leaving the Canucks with Chytil despite their attempts to flip him.
According to Patrick Johnston of The Province, the Canucks were interested in Norris at the same time they were trying to flip Chytil, but the latter's concussion history (now on top of the one he suffered at the end of the season) has been an issue.
"I know that, around the trade deadline, we all knew that they were kicking tires on Josh Norris, and I'm pretty sure, at one point, they were talking about trying to maybe flip Filip Chytil the other way," Johnston said in his review of the Canucks' 2024-25 season with Paul Chapman. "Chytil has been a good player, but even when he's been healthy, he's not a guy that teams are banging on the door for, and now he's coming off another concussion."
Chytil, 25, ultimately finished the 2024-25 season with 13 goals, 13 assists, and 26 points in 66 games, picking up two of those goals and six of those points in 15 games with the Canucks. Chytil was on a six-game scoreless drought before suffering a season-ending concussion on a Jason Dickinson hit whilst playing against the Chicago Blackhawks on March 15.
As for Norris, he has had no shortage of injuries himself with two shoulder injuries limiting him to eight games in the 2022-23 season. Since then, Norris has played in just 106 games, scoring 37 goals and 65 points in that span. For reference, Norris scored 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games in his breakout season with the Senators in 2021-22.
It is worth noting that Norris is good friends with Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, and perhaps that gave the Canucks some motivation for this attempted Chytil swap.
Norris was only able to appear in three games for the Sabres after the Senators traded him on March 7, so, in the short-term, this failed deal would not have achieved all that much for the Canucks.