Inside Vancouver Canucks’ Bold Strategy: Why They’re Sitting Back While Rivals Scramble

The Vancouver Canucks find themselves in a curious spot these days — open for business on the trade front, but decidedly in no rush to pull any trigger. I got the sense from Elliotte Friedman’s latest Hockey Night in Canada rundown that Vancouver is playing the long game, letting potential suitors come to them rather than chasing deals in haste. Kiefer Sherwood — a solid, unrestricted free agent with a manageable cap hit — seems to be the hot commodity right now, but even he’s not moving anytime soon. Despite interest from teams like Boston, Minnesota, and Philadelphia, the Canucks are sticking to their guns, aiming to reshape their roster by getting younger while biding their time for the right offer. Conor Garland’s absence tonight is merely injury-related — no trade vibes there — and as for Quinn Hughes, well, that’s a story to watch but there’s nothing brewing at the moment. Patience is the name of the game here, and Vancouver’s front office looks content to wait until they find that sweet spot. LEARN MORE

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on Saturday Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada stated that the Vancouver Canucks, while “open for business,” will remain patient and let the market come to them. The Canucks are not rushing into any trades right now.

NHLRumors.com Transcriptions

Ron MacLean: “Vancouver, we’re open for business, yes. So what’s going on there?”

Elliotte Friedman: “So one of the things I kind of thought was maybe we might see something quick happen with Kiefer Sherwood, because he’s an unrestricted free agent. He’s a really good player. He’s a salary everyone can handle. And I thought there would be a lot of interest. And I was kind of told today it doesn’t look like it’s necessarily going to be fast. There’s nothing imminent in Vancouver now.

NHL Rumors: What Veterans Can the Vancouver Canucks Actually Move?

Conor Garland is not playing tonight (Saturday night). That’s injury-related. Before anybody goes to any conclusions, it’s not believed to be serious, but he’s not playing, not because of a trade, but because of injury concerns.

But the thing is, I think there’s some teams that are very interested. I think teams like Minnesota, Boston, potentially Philadelphia, and others. But I didn’t get the sense from calling around that anything was imminent from Vancouver, and they’re more than comfortable to take their time to just see what the market is and wait if they have to. And again, the goal is to get younger. Everybody knows that they want to get younger, and they’re going to wait until they get something they like.”

MacLean: They are kind of young as it is, but Quinn Hughes, nothing.”

Friedman: “I knew you were going to ask me that, like every week you’ll always ask me, Quinn Hughes, nothing.”

NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, and Toronto Maple Leafs

NHLRumors.com Note: Again, the Canucks don’t have too many players that are easily movable. Kiefer Sherwood has the most interest. Jimmy Murphy of RG Media stated the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and Buffalo Sabres are interested in Sherwood. Rick Dhaliwal stated you can add the Minnesota Wild to that list as well. As for Conor Garland, expect the Boston Bruins to take another run at him.

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