November 29th, 2023
Alex Rickman
A few hours before the puck dropped on the Canucks 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday evening, news broke that in something of a surprising move, Anthony Beauvillier had been traded to the NHL’s least scandalous franchise, the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a 2024 5th round pick. This move comes at an important crossroads for this Canucks team, who have come back down to earth in recent weeks after a red-hot start to the season, with some in the fanbase beginning to question the legitimacy of the club's playoff aspirations. Let’s break down this trade to see why it made sense for the Canucks to make it at this time, what may come next for the Canucks after making this deal, and who may replace Beauvillier in the Canucks lineup.
Cap space is gold in the NHL. Unfortunately for the Canucks, for much of the past decade, they have been stuck in cap hell, unable to free up enough cap space to retain essential players, leading to the mass exodus we say after the success of the 2020 Bubble run, and restricting their ability to add to their lineup via trade or free agency. As a result of years of poor cap management, Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin have had to get creative in order to facilitate the moves necessary to get the team up to snuff. Now that the team appear to have a realistic shot at making the playoffs, the front office will want to add to the roster to ensure that the Canucks have the best possible shot at reaching their full potential but didn’t have the cap space to make any additions to the roster. Meanwhile, Anthony Beauvillier came in at a cap hit of $4.15M, and while the defensive side of his game looked strong, the offensive upside required to be worth such a salary just hasn’t been there this season. With a mere 2 goals on the season to date, both of which came during garbage time of the Canucks 10-1 beatdown of the Sharks in San Jose, in addition to an expiring contract, made Beauvillier the easiest of the Canucks bad contracts to move off of.
In addition to making sense for the cap-strapped Canucks, the timing of this deal makes a lot of sense for Beauvillier’s new team as well. Over the past few days, the Blackhawks have lost multiple wingers, with Taylor Hall going down with a season-ending knee injury and Corey Perry being waived for the purpose of a contract termination under mysterious circumstances. Chicago wants to surround their young stars, most notably Connor Bedard, with the talent they will need to succeed, and the acquisition of Beauvillier at a very low cost will give them a player who can step into a role in the top six, hopefully helping fill the void on Bedard’s line that Hall previously filled. While some Canucks fans would’ve liked to see more than a 5th come back for Beau, the reality is that with his lack of offensive production this season, he wasn’t going to bring much back. Moving off of the contract without retaining any salary or losing any additional assets has to be seen as a smart move for Vancouver.
So how may the Canucks use their newfound cap flexibility? There are a few rumoured targets that could find themselves in the Pacific Northwest over the coming weeks, two of whom are currently unsigned, with the other set to be available as a trade target. The first, and most likely, potential addition to the Canucks lineup is a reunion with Ethan Bear, who most recently played for Vancouver during the 2022-23 campaign but is currently unsigned. The Province’s Patrick Johnston recently reported that Bear, who is coming off a shoulder injury sustained playing for Canada at this summer's World Championships, is looking to return to the NHL in late December, so could be set to sign a contract in the near future. Bear reportedly quite enjoyed his time in Vancouver and the Canucks front office are fans of his, so a reunion with the Regina native feels almost inevitable at this point.
The Canucks have also reportedly shown interest in former NHL All-Star Phil Kessel. During his stint in Pittsburgh, Kessel played for and alongside several current members of the Canucks organization, most notably President Jim Rutherford and Head Coach Rick Tocchet, meaning that those in the Canucks organization have a stronger connection to and a better knowledge of Kessel and his game. Kessel isn’t the player he once was, spending much of the last postseason in the press box as the Golden Knights went on to lift the Stanley Cup, but with the veteran experience he would add on a presumably very small contract, it could make sense for the Canucks to at least kick tires on the American winger. While it is possible that a 36-year-old Phil Kessel may not work out in the Canucks system, as long as the contract is low risk, the Canucks could do far worse than to give Phil the Thrill a chance to prove that he still has it.
The third and final rumoured move the Canucks could look to make using their new cap space is once again a reunion with an old friend on the right side of the defence. Chris Tanev, who spent parts of 10 seasons as a member of the Canucks, is currently unsettled in Calgary on a contract set to expire at the conclusion of this season. With Calgary seemingly in need of a rebuild or retool and set to lose the defenceman for free without a trade, a Canucks team still looking to shore up their backend, the sturdy defensive defenceman could be on his way back out to his old stomping grounds. While Calgary would reportedly not like to move Tanev to a division rival, and particularly to the team they made a big deal out of poaching several players from in recent years, at the end of the day the Flames will have to take the best offer they get. If the Canucks can make a strong enough pitch to bring Tanev home, it will surely be a popular move with the fans, almost all of whom still love the defenceman from his first stint with the team.
The Canucks could additionally choose to just hang on to the cap space for the time being and use it this coming offseason to re-sign some of the players they have on expiring contracts, such as star centre Elias Pettersson. However, knowing the aggressive nature of the Canucks front office, it would be something of a surprise to see this cap space go unused until this summer. The Canucks appear to have entered win-now mode, and while they may not be ready to sell off assets like some of the league's top teams, the club will be prepared to make the necessary additions to set themselves up for a deep run in the playoffs. It’s unclear at this interval exactly how this money may be used, but rest assured, it will be used.
One of the main questions surrounding the Canucks at the moment is how they plan on replacing Beauvillier’s minutes. Despite spending most of his time in the bottom six, Beauvillier did spend some time in recent weeks playing in the top six on a line with JT Miller and Brock Boeser. So who may claim these newly available minutes on this line now that it seems the Phil Di Guiseppe experiment on that line has reached its conclusion? The most obvious candidate would be Nils Höglander, who has come into his own this season after spending the majority of last season in the AHL. Höglander’s 7 goals in his 21 appearances this season appear to have left a good impression on Rick Tocchet, who has been giving Höglander appearances in the top six as of late, brief as these appearances may be. If not Höglander, Conor Garland could be considered for this spot as a result of his strong performances on the Canucks high forechecking third line, but one has to question if the Canucks would be well advised to break this line up with how well they have performed.
In addition to creating another spot in the Canucks top six, moving Beauvillier may grant the Canucks an opportunity to look at some of the Abbotsford Canucks wingers, at least until Pius Suter is ready to return. Linus Karlsson, who made his NHL debut in the Canucks 5-2 loss in Calgary earlier this month, was called back up to the NHL team on November 29th. Karlsson put in a strong performance during this game in Calgary despite the Canucks generally poor effort and could be given the chance to prove that he deserves to stay in the NHL over the next few games. Arshdeep Bains, who left a great impression on Tocchet during the preseason and has carried this strong form into this AHL season, may also be a candidate to receive a call-up should the Canucks opt to or have to bring up another forward in the coming days. Other options, such as the previously called-upon Sheldon Dries, recently recovered Vasily Podkolzin, or even Aatu Räty, could also be in consideration to see NHL game time should the Canucks look to Abbotsford for help.
At the end of the day, while Beauvillier was certainly a talented player and will be missed by the Canucks, it’s hard not to get excited by the options this trade gives the Canucks. Not only is there a clearer path for Nils Höglander and other young forwards to make a stronger impact on the Canucks as a whole, but the possible roster additions now available to the Canucks give fans a lot of reasons to get excited about what may be coming next for the Canucks. Whether it be players like Bear, Tanev, Kessel, or others not yet talked about, the cap flexibility the Canucks have now been afforded because of this deal give Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin plenty of wiggle room to make the moves they believe will have the Canucks best positioned for a deep run in the postseason.