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The Vancouver Canucks are on very shaky ground right now, having been completely inconsistent in their Pacific Division title defense. Unless a miracle occurs, they won't be repeating as the top dog in the division and would be fortunate to land one of the final pair of Wild Card spots in the Western Conference.
Right now, they find themselves on the outside looking in at the postseason in a campaign that has been rocked by uncomfortable goings on behind the scenes, notably between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller; Miller has since been traded to the New York Rangers.
The Canucks are also reportedly on the verge of trading away forward Pius Suter to the Dallas Stars, though no deal has officially materialized.
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General manager Patrik Allvin, who acquired the likes of Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm in separate trades last season, doesn't envision any major splashes but hasn't ruled out making moves to try and solve their inconsistency, via Sportsnet.
“I think you're always trying to make the team better,” Allvin told Sportsnet during a weekend interview in Seattle. “But I think we're in the position this year where… I don't envision any pickups like last year.
“That's something we obviously discuss a lot — where we are as a team and a group. I would say last year, I felt that the team, the way they performed and everything went right for us, that they deserved those late additions. I think this year is a little bit tougher for us because we've had inconsistency. Part of it is also where we've gone through injuries.
“When we've played at our best, I believe that we've played really well. But it's too much ups and downs, and that's been the hardest part to evaluate the individuals and also the team performance.”
But there is a growing sentiment that the Canucks could elect to trade away forward Brock Boeser if he and Canucks management are unable to come to an agreement on a new deal before the Trade Deadline passes on Friday afternoon.
What are the dream and nightmare scenarios for the Canucks as they brace for the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline?
Vancouver Canucks' dream scenarios for 2025 NHL trade deadline
In the first place, the Canucks better hope that Pettersson can pick up his game and return to the steady production that they knew he was capable of when they signed him to an eight-year extension with a considerable cap hit of $11.6 million.
Vancouver would be best served by Pettersson returning to form and recapturing some of the scoring prowess that saw him score 102 and 89 points in the last two seasons.
As far as the trade deadline is concerned, getting Boeser locked down to a new contract that won't break the bank and hinder Vancouver's ability to attract talent during the offseason would be ideal. They're projected to have approximately $10.3 million in available salary cap space by the time the deadline rolls around on Friday afternoon.
Let's go the other direction and say that the Canucks are unable to get a deal worked out with Boeser and decide the best course of action is to send him packing – the best possible outcome in that scenario would be for general manager Patrik Allvin to not only receive one or two ready-made roster players in return, but a top draft choice as well.
While Boeser's numbers this season have dropped from where they were last season, he's still just one year removed from scoring 40 goals and is only 28 years old.
Vancouver Canucks' nightmare scenarios for 2025 NHL trade deadline
On the other hand, the worst thing that could happen to the Canucks at the Deadline is for Pettersson not only failing to return to his usual form, but for Allvin to fail to pick up adequate resources in a potential trade of either Pettersson or Boeser (or Suter, for that matter).
If the Canucks decide to play a dangerous game of chicken with Boeser and end up losing him on the free agent market during the offseason in exchange for nothing, it will be a black mark on Allvin's tenure in Vancouver.
Additionally, if the Canucks choose to stand pat and make no adjustments to their club, they also run the risk of being unable to break out of their repeated inconsistency that has plagued them this season and miss the playoffs entirely. Going from winning the division in one season to missing the playoffs the next year would signal that a serious shakeup could be required.
