Six potential trade destinations for the Vancouver Canucks’ Brock Boeser

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It’s not too often a player 21 games into the first season of a three-year contract extension becomes a virtual lock to be traded. But here we are with right winger Brock Boeser and the Vancouver Canucks.

It’s natural to view last weekend’s drama as a catalyst and the reason why Boeser and agent Ben Hankinson have been granted permission by the club to find a trade. When the Canucks attempted to healthy scratch Boeser, whose father Duke died of cancer earlier this year, on Hockey Fights Cancer night, it hurt him badly. He said as much. Surely, the disrespect he received from the Canucks made it easier for him to entertain the idea of playing elsewhere.

But the truth is that the Boeser trade idea was already in the works, as reported earlier this week by Canucks beat reporter Thomas Drance of The Athletic. The Canucks are struggling to compete in the Pacific Division; their president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, has repeatedly, publicly backed the bus over coach Bruce Boudreau; starting goaltender Thatcher Demko is out with a long-term injury; and captain Bo Horvat, a pending UFA, is unlikely to stay with the team. Whether it’s a retool or rebuild, a re-something is on the horizon, and the Canucks reportedly want to clear cap space.

That’s where Boeser comes in. His skill as a goal-scorer is unquestioned – he’s probably a top-10 if not top-five pure shooter on the planet – but his ability to maximize that talent is very much in question. Now 25 and competing in his sixth full NHL season, he has, amazingly, yet to record his first 30-goal campaign in the NHL, due to a mixture of injuries, COVID-abbreviated schedules and flat out underachieving. This season, he’s scored just four times in 21 games. His $6.65 million cap hit has thus become hard to stomach, and the Canucks are loath to retain any of his salary in a trade, reports The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.

And yet: Boeser remains in his prime and his potential still feels vast. In the right situation, he could make himself into a bargain at his price tag, and two more years after this one doesn’t make him a daunting long-term commitment. As he and Hankinson search for a fit, the idea shouldn’t be completely impossible.

Which destinations make the most sense for Boeser? I won’t empty all the clickbait sauce into the pot and say the Edmonton Oilers or Calgary Flames, as an divisional trade for a potential difference-making sniper doesn’t make a lot of sense.

But consider these six landing spots for No. 6, listed alphabetically.

DALLAS STARS

Jason Robertson’s breakthrough into superstardom has changed the Stars’ identity. This is no longer the creaky veteran team that willed itself to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final using savvy and duct tape. The likes of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are the bit players now. Left winger Robertson, center Roope Hintz, defenseman Miro Heiskanen and goaltender Jake Oettinger are the young franchise pillars now and have molded Dallas into a team with realistic odds of challenging for Stanley Cups over the next several years.

So the Stars, who have quietly stocked up their farm system with some really nice steals in recent seasons, suddenly look like a threat to add a big name, and GM Jim Nill has already been rumored to be chasing another top-six forward. The Stars sit at just under $82 million in cap spending at the moment. They would need to send some money Vancouver’s way. What about starting with another underachieving 25-year-old in Denis Gurianov? He’s a fellow 2015 first-round talent who could use a fresh start. He has just one goal in 19 games and is a pending RFA. It has been reported that the Canucks are willing to take on a contract, so there could be a fit.

MINNESOTA WILD

Of the potential Boeser suitors, the Wild might feel like the biggest stretch for financial reasons but, considering Boeser and his agent are involved in the process of finding him a new home, there’s no way we can leave his literal home off the list. Boeser’s heart belongs in the State of Hockey. He grew up in Burnsville, just south of downtown Minneapolis.

In terms of pure hockey fits, Boeser makes plenty of sense for the Wild, who badly miss the scoring they lost when they traded Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings last season. Minnesota iced the NHL’s No. 5 offense last season, averaging 3.72 goals per game, and has tumbled to 17^th at 3.12 goals per game this season. If we subscribe to the theory that Boeser’s family hardship has affected his play, which makes perfect sense given he’s a human being with real feelings, the Wild arguably would be the healthiest environment to host him and help him get his career back on track.

OK, now we don our Debbie Downer hats and realize the Wild are still enduring the cap hell caused by the dead money devoted to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts. They ding the Wild for a combined $12.74 million right now, and the brunt of the blow comes in 2023-24 and 2024-25 when the combined buyout number balloons to $14.74 million. That happens to coincide with the final two years of Boeser’s contract. So if the Wild find a way to bring him home, they must send significant cap space Vancouver’s way. Would defenseman Matt Dumba and his $6 million AAV make sense? He’s a pending UFA and would thus give Vancouver a tradable asset at the deadline. He does have a 10-team no-trade list but, as a Western Canadian, might be willing to head to Vancouver.

Of course, the Wild would still have to worry about their buyout cap hits next season with Boeser on board, but that’s a can they could at least kick down the road until this offseason.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

Boeser’s name swirled in the trade rumor mill last season, too, before he’d signed his extension, and our own insider Frank Seravalli linked him to the New Jersey Devils. The idea at the time was for a team in transition to get a prime-year asset with term.

Now, Boeser still looks like an intriguing fit in New Jersey, but for a very different reason. In 2022-23, the Devils are an elite Stanley Cup contender, the most dominant team in the NHL so far this season, and could see Boeser as a piece to put them over the top. Despite their powerhouse performance so far, their power play is among the league’s weakest, sitting 25^th in the NHL. They view Alexander Holtz as a long-term PP1 trigger man, but Boeser could step into that role immediately.

The Devils can view themselves as a win-now operation. They’d likely need to send salary Vancouver’s way in a Boeser deal but have plenty of mid-range, top-nine forwards they could include. Several are expiring assets, too, such as Miles Wood and Andreas Johnsson. They’d need to compensate the Canucks with significant pick and prospect capital to make such a trade fair, of course.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Isles GM Lou Lamoriello took heat all offseason for his team’s extreme inactivity aside from trading for defenseman Alexander Romanov. The Isles bet on the idea that last year’s playoff miss was a fluke brought on by some strange circumstances, from a 13-game, season-opening road trip to the team being forced to play 50 games in its final 99 days due to making up for COVID postponements.

So far? The team has mostly proven Lamoriello right. Ilya Sorokin’s incredible play in net has propped the Isles up a bit, but they’re holding down a playoff spot. They’re also scoring more after switching head coaches from Barry Trotz to his longtime acolyte Lane Lambert. The team’s identity has shifted more than expected given the continuity between the two, so Boeser would be a nice fit on a team that could use another consistent scoring threat – and do what Kyle Palmieri is being paid to do but hasn’t.

If the Canucks wanted a roster player back – and the Islanders need to move money – Anthony Beauvillier comes to mind. He has shown talent in flashes over his career as a first-rounder chosen just five picks after Boeser in 2015. Beauvillier’s name has practically paid rent in the trade rumor mill over the past year as a mainstay on Seravalli’s Trade Target list to boot. Beauvillier doesn’t have any movement restrictions on his contract, which carries a $4.15 million AAV through 2023-24.

NEW YORK RANGERS

The Rangers have tried everyone and their dog to make that right wing spot work in their top six. Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck are the mainstays as the top two left wingers and centers, but, sheesh, will anyone step up to establish himself as a long-term RW1 and RW2? They’ve tried underachieving prospects Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov; bruiser Sammy Blais; and even a Jimmy Vesey comeback tour.

The Blueshirts need a marquee scoring-line right winger, which is why they’ve been linked to Patrick Kane and a possible reunion with his old linemate Panarin. The intrigue of adding Boeser is that he could conceivably fit under their cap next year and beyond. Even if the cap only goes up by $1 million in a worst-case scenario, the Rangers would have more than $17 million to spend on their RFAs. It’s more likely they’ll have about $20 million. Is that enough for Boeser plus new contracts for defenseman K’Andre Miller and forwards Lafreniere, Kakko, Kravtsov and Filip Chytil, all RFAs as well? Maybe – if we consider all the forwards seem to be playing themselves into the bridge-deal tier.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Before joining the Canucks, Rutherford swashbuckled his way to Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 as GM of the Penguins, adopting a “Win now, worry later” mentality in his annual aggressive trades. The Pens are still in ride-or-die mode with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and co.,, so perhaps Rutherford could leverage the relationship with his old team and strike a Boeser trade.

Pending UFA Jason Zucker and his $5.5 million AAV would give the Pens major cap relief to facilitate a Boeser deal. At that AAV, the Canucks wouldn’t be saving money in the present, and he has a 10-team no-trade list, but he’d be another flippable asset. Maybe the Canucks could take Zucker and dangle him to his hometown Vegas Golden Knights.

The player screaming for a new start is, of course, Kasperi Kapanen. But Rutherford already traded Kapanen in 2016 and reacquired him in 2020. Would he take the plunge again?