The Vancouver Canucks are in the midst of one of the best seasons in franchise history — their 28-11-3 record good enough for second in NHL standings — and even more help could be on the way.

Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford confirmed to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun earlier this week that the top of the club's forward core is a strong focus approaching the Mar. 8 NHL Trade Deadline.

“I think as we speak, if we were able to add another top-six forward, that would give us a better chance,” Rutherford told LeBrun. “And you know, we'll watch the defense as we go along here. But you know, for the most part, our defense has done a pretty good job.”

Vancouver just keeps finding ways to win games, and a four-game road winning streak has the club at the top of the Pacific Division midway through the 2023-24 campaign.

This team hasn't been to a postseason in a full season since 2015 when Daniel and Henrik Sedin were still on the roster, and it seems likely the Canucks aren't done making moves after already bringing hulking blueliner Nikita Zadorov to the West Coast earlier this season.

Canucks continue to make moves

It truly has been a cinderella season for a Canucks team that has endured middling seasons for nearly a decade. Rutherford gave a glimpse into why the club has been so successful this time around. Besides competent management, of course.

“What’s happened this year is that (head coach) Rick Tocchet put a system in place that the players have bought into. And each player has accepted their role, whatever different role that may be. We’ve obviously had star, impact players for a while, but we added that good group of character guys that came from winning programs and fit their roles, maybe in the bottom six or as penalty killers or all the different things you need to win games.”

The Canucks lead the NHL in goals with 164, and are getting a balanced attack that goes beyond the excellence of Elias Pettersson, JT Miller and Brock Boeser on the newly-formed — and extremely potent — top line.

Since training camp opened, the team has made a plethora of moves, shipping out Tanner Pearson and Anthony Beauvillier and replacing the two with Zadorov and depth forward Sam Lafferty.

But clearly, the Canucks are not done making moves, and it'll be intriguing to see if they can make a good enough offer for a player like Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline.