3 early Canucks trade targets after 2025 playoff elimination

The Minnesota Wild are up against the salary cap ceiling, and Marco Rossi’s entry-level contract is expiring. Just as the cap goes up and the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts decline, Kirill Kaprizov is eligible for an extension. He could set a new salary record this summer, which would necessitate a trade of Rossi. The Canucks could swoop in and trade for Rossi.

Rossi scored a playoff goal on Thursday, his first of his career. In the regular season, he has two 20-goal seasons already and topped out this season at 60 points. All of this comes before he turns 24 years old. If the Wild trade Rossi, the Canucks should be among the first teams to call. With Miller gone and Boeser likely leaving, they need the scoring.

The Canucks would have to part with some prospects to make this deal work, but should be comfortable doing that. They don’t have a great pipeline, but they need to surround Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson with talent now. Rossi is ascending unlike any current Canucks prospect and would be a great addition.

Call about a Flyers defenseman

Recent injury news prevents Rasmus Ristolainen from being the headliner for this deal. If the Canucks are okay with Ristolainen potentially missing training camp, they could make this deal. But if not, they should still call the Flyers for one of their other defenseman. Cam York and John Tortorella got into a skirmish that cost the coach his job. Depending on the severity, the remaining front office could want to trade York as well.

If the Flyers were willing to trade Travis Sanheim, the Canucks should be all over that. He has six years left on his deal at $6.25 million, but Philly could look to move him to start a rebuild. That would be a massive pick and prospect haul to land him, but they need to surround Quinn Hughes with talent.

Sanheim would immediately become the second-best defenseman on the Canucks. He would improve their power play and secondary defensive lines dramatically. The Canucks and Flyers could be good trade partners this offseason, assuming Rick Tocchet doesn’t become Philly’s coach.

Make an RFA trade for Sabres youngster

Back to the forward unit, the Canucks could use their draft-pick capital to pick up solid forward JJ Peterka. The 23-year-old German would immediately improve their bottom six and would be relatively inexpensive. They could give him an offer sheet and let the Sabres match it. But because they do not have their own third or fourth-round picks, a trade would make more sense.

The Canucks could give up the San Jose Sharks third-rounder to the Sabres along with any other picks it would take to get Peterka. But if they did an offer sheet, they would not be able to use the Sharks’ pick. So that brings in the trade, where the Sabres could be looking to move on. They are entering a rebuild and could look for a solid prospect to reset their clock.

Peterka shined this year with 27 goals and 41 assists for a career high 68 points. Even on a bad Sabres team, he found a way to get on the scoresheet. On a Canucks team with expectations, he could add to their bottom six or help break Elias Pettersson out of his funk.