NHL trade rumors: Vancouver Canucks considering trading Brock Boeser – Puck Prose

The Vancouver Canucks are one of the teams who are going to be hit quite hard by the stagnant salary cap. With several key players to extend in the next few years, including Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, some salary is going to need to be moved out. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, that could come via trading star forward Brock Boeser.

This report comes from Matt Sekeres, via Rick Dhaliwal. According to Sekeres, the Canucks are “exploring the possibility of trading Boeser”.

Now, the Canucks do need to clear some cap space. They would like to re-sign Tyler Toffoli, who they traded for at the NHL trade deadline, but there’s no way they’re going to be able to afford both and re-sign guys like Pettersson, Hughes, and goaltender Jacob Markstrom. Especially not with a stagnant salary cap.

The main reason they want to trade Boeser, though, isn’t due to the salary cap. If that was the case, they could just find a way to move someone like Brandon Sutter, Antoine Roussel, or Jay Beagle. Or they could find a way to convince Loui Eriksson to terminate his contract.

I think the main reason the Canucks are open to trading Boeser is because he’s going to net them a huge return. With the Canucks forward depth, they can afford to lose a top-six forward if it nets them a significant return and helps them patch up a weakness.

The Canucks are likely going to target a top-four defenseman in any return for Boeser. Trading him should also help them regain some draft capital, as they’ve surrendered quite a bit to get Toffoli and J.T. Miller.

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However, the Canucks should be careful. Boeser is a very good forward, but not too many teams are going to be interested in adding his cap hit since the salary cap will be stagnant for at least next season and likely the next one as well.