March 9th, 2024
Alex Rickman
The 2024 NHL trade deadline has now come and gone, with the Canucks front office opting to stand pat in the weeks before the deadline. This comes as something of a surprise from the often aggressive Canucks, who were among the first teams to make major moves on the trade market this year, bringing in Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm in deals with the Calgary Flames in December and January respectively. So what was the cause of the Canucks quiet deadline week? Let’s look into a few factors that lead the Canucks front office to ultimately decide against pulling the trigger on any roster additions, and what kind of an impact it may have on the team going forward.
Early activity
As previously stated, the Canucks were among the first teams to make major waves on the trade market this season by adding Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm. While Lindholm hasn’t had a lot of success yet in his time as a Canucks, and was even rumoured to potentially be on the move again as a means to acquire Jake Guentzel before he ultimately made the move to the Hurricanes, the Canucks organization clearly value what he can bring to the table. Lindholm also put up a strong performance in his final game before the deadline in the Canucks 3-1 victory in Las Vegas, which should give the Canucks front office some inspiration that he could be turning a corner and finally adjusting to life with his new team.
In addition, Nikita Zadorov has proven to be a valuable piece on the Canucks back end, and while there have been some bumps in the road, he projects to be an important player in Vancouver come playoff time. Zadorov is one of the hardest-hitting players in the league, and his physicality has been a breath of fresh air for a Canucks defence that has previously lacked size and pushback. He, along with recent acquisitions like Filip Hronek, Carson Soucy, and Ian Cole, have more or less negated the Canucks longstanding defensive problems, creating a situation where the Canucks really didn’t need to add defence at the deadline to contend. Would some extra depth on the blueline have helped? Sure, but at the end of the day, the Canucks defence is steady enough to not be in any dire need of upgrades, and Lindholm gave the Canucks forward core one of the most valued assets the front office could’ve wished to acquire.
Young talent thriving
The Canucks have, for years now, had one of the league's weakest prospect pools. However, in recent years, the Canucks new front office has done plenty of work to replenish the once-barren cupboards, making a strong effort to draft and develop talent from within. Adding pieces like Aatu Räty via trade, Cole McWard and Arshdeep Bains as undrafted free agents, and crown jewels of the prospect pool Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Tom Willander, and Elias Pettersson via the draft, there was some concern that the Canucks may once again opt to drain their prospect pool in order to add rentals to make a push. The Canucks already gave up a decently promising prospect in Hunter Brzustewicz in order to secure the services of Elias Lindholm, so it seemed very much plausible that they’d be willing to do it again. Evidently, this was not the case.
Ultimately, this comes down to a few factors. Firstly, the Canucks made it clear early on that they would not be parting with Lekkerimäki, Willander, or Pettersson, which immediately limits the trade possibilities they have in front of them. Pieces like Nils Höglander, or even Räty or Vasily Podkolzin also don’t strike me as pieces the front office would be especially quick to part with, as the Canucks just don’t have the prospect depth or draft capital to replace them in their system as things stand. The Canucks front office also understands how important some of these prospects will likely be to them in the near future. With as many contracts set to expire as the Canucks have, some players from Abbotsford will need to make the jump to the NHL next season full-time. If the Canucks trade too many pieces away now in order to sustain a one-year push, it wouldn’t only be handicapping them in the long term, but the effects could be felt as soon as next year.
Moving money
Cap space is gold in the NHL, and the Canucks simply lack the cap room to have made a big move at the deadline, even if salary was retained by a trade partner. The Canucks have $0 available to spend according to CapFriendly, so any trade they made would’ve required the Canucks to move money out, creating a few potential concerns from the front office. Firstly, this would obviously mean that the Canucks have to take players off of their roster in order to have the room to make additions. This would’ve made it challenging for the Canucks to make real progress in improving the roster, as any addition has to come with some level of subtraction being made from what is one of the better rosters in the league. Upgrades maybe still could have been made, but they wouldn’t have been the drastic improvements that some fans may have hoped to see the team make, and could’ve had unintended negative effects on locker room chemistry.
The other potential issue that could’ve arisen as a result of the Canucks cap situation is the extra price the team may have had to pay in order to sway a team to take on a contract as opposed to making a deal with a team that can take on a player without sending money back. While some fans were pining to see the Canucks attempt to move off of Ilya Mikheyev, for example, in order to have the $4.75 million the Canucks owe him available to make additions, one has to consider the price the team would have to pay in order to get a team to take on this contract for a player who has been struggling mightily this season. The future assets the Canucks would’ve had to part with in order to open up the cap space required to make a move for a player like Tyler Toffoli or Jake Guentzel would’ve been hard to justify, especially with what the Canucks would then have to pay to add the player. At the end of the day, the financial situation in Vancouver was not stable enough to justify a major move for the Canucks.
Trust the process
One of the most important reasons the Canucks were unwilling to part with assets at the deadline this year is that the front office understands that they have a multi-year window to work with, and do not believe that mortgaging the future is worth it for a one-year push. As nice as it would be the see the Canucks go the distance in their first year of contention after escaping mediocrity, the fact of the matter is that this won’t be the Canucks only kick at the can, so staying focused on the long term vision is still necessary for this franchise. It’s important for contending teams to get value out of players on entry-level and low-money contracts, so trading out prospects for expensive players who the Canucks may not even be able to re-sign would really not suit the multi-year window the front office believes that this team can have.
While the idea of going all in this year is tempting, it’s important to remember that this year is the first step for the Canucks, not their only shot. An all-out push for the cup this year aided by some shiny new trade deadline acquisitions sounds like an exciting way to do business, but Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin aren’t paid to be exciting, they’re paid to try and win the Canucks a Stanley Cup. The Canucks have a better chance at doing that this year than they have since at least 2011, but selling the farm the moment a shot at the Cup opens up is simply an irresponsible way to run a franchise. By opting not to pull the trigger on a major deal the week of the trade deadline, the Canucks have not only signalled to the players already on their roster and in their organization that they trust them, but that they truly believe that this year won’t be their only chance at contention.
Could the Canucks inactive deadline prove me wrong and age poorly? Sure, I have been wrong before and will be wrong again in the future. But, looking at it with what we know right now, I’m happy that the front office stuck to their guns and didn’t feel obliged to take a major risk and sell the farm for a rental. Things are looking up in Vancouver after a strong road trip and with a long home stand ahead, so now should be a time for Canucks fans to get excited about a strong finish to the regular season and the incoming playoffs, not to worry about what the team didn’t do before the trade deadline.