The Vancouver Canucks are right up against the salary cap, which is why they may target a trade before the beginning of the regular season. They have just $15,000 projected cap space with 23 players on their active roster, so gaining some flexibility would be at the top of their list. The Canucks made some intelligent value signings, like Daniel Sprong and Danton Heinen. However, they still aren't in a great spot. They've already cleared some cap space this offseason with the trade of Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty to the Chicago Blackhawks, but some candidates are still on their roster.
The Canucks exceeded expectations in 2023-24, which put them in a hard spot this offseason. Some of their best players increased their worth, which hurt the Canucks chances of re-signing. They traded for Elias Lindholm near the deadline, hoping he'd sign a long-term extension. However, the center decided to sign in Boston, instead. Canucks' shutdown defenseman Nikita Zadorov followed Lindholm to Boston, which left them scrambling to find replacements.
The Canucks found replacements in the Bruins' castoffs, as they signed deals with Jake Debrusk, Danton Heinen, and Derek Forbort. It's hard to look at the players in and players out and say that the Canucks are a better team than last season. The fact they exceeded expectations and now have a worse roster makes it look like there could be plenty of regression in Vancouver this season.
Conor Garland is expendable
It's hard to disregard the impact Conor Garland has made on the Canucks since joining in 2021. Garland tallied a career-high 52 points in his first season, then followed it up with campaigns of 46 and 47. The undersized forward couldn't stay in the lineup in Arizona, playing a career-high 68 games in 2019-20. However, he missed just six games over three seasons since moving to Western Canada. Garland also stepped up in the playoffs this season, recording three goals and two assists over 13 games. He may not have had many points, but all his contributions came in integral spots.
Trade rumors swirled about Garland for the last two seasons in Vancouver, as his $4.95 million cap hit didn't offer much value for a depth forward. The Canucks signed him with the belief he could play up in the lineup, but he found a spot on the third line. Garland could find a home on another team's third line at this price point, but it's hard to justify on the Canucks when they have just $15,000 remaining.
The Canucks had to step away from trading Garland last season when they started to roll in the Pacific Division. The front office had to be careful not to upset fans by making the team worse on their first playoff run in many seasons. The 2024 offseason would be a good time to look at trading Garland again before they begin making another playoff push.
The free-agent signing of Sprong could open up the possibility of trading Garland. It's hard to find valuable right-wingers, which is why the Canucks cherished Garland so much. However, Sprong could contribute the same as Garland with $4 million less towards the salary cap.
Could the Canucks place Tyler Mylers on the block?
Tyler Mylers' place on the Canucks has had question marks since he joined the team in 2019. Myers has been one of the league's most promising shutdown defensemen since his debut in 2009, but he seems to perform under expectations. He is one of those players that fan bases will pile on because he looks slow on the ice, which makes his lowlights look worse than others. It's hard for Myers to win over the fanbase when players like Connor McDavid in his division are making fools of opposing defenders.
People have thrown around the idea of trading Myers and his $3 million cap hit, and it looked like last season's trade deadline would finally see his departure. The problem for the Canucks, like the Garland situation, was that they were playing too good to mess up the roster. Myers not only played above-average defense, he also recorded the most points in his five-year Canucks career.
The Canucks signings of Vincent Desharnais and Derek Forbort this offseason give them a problem of three poor skating defenders out of the seven on their roster. It's hard to see them putting all three in the lineup at once, and they are all too valuable to have sitting in the press box every night. The Canucks have five right-shot defenders on their roster, and moving one of them for salary cap relief makes the most sense.
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