Canucks looking to trade veteran forward

The Canucks are looking to find a trade for forward Ilya Mikheyev, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports. The Russian winger checks in at No. 6 on his latest list of offseason trade targets, joining a list of other well-documented deal candidates that includes Nikolaj Ehlers, Mitch Marner and Martin Necas.

But unlike the others, it will likely take assets from the Canucks to get out of Mikheyev’s contract. While Vancouver’s front office, led by Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford, has done good work to get them back to playoff contention, Mikheyev's signing in free agency two years ago is a major blemish. Under contract with a $4.75M cap hit for two more seasons, the 29-year-old has 24 goals and 59 points in 124 games since landing in British Columbia.

This season was especially difficult for Mikheyev. After missing a solid chunk of his inaugural season in Vancouver with an ACL tear suffered during the preseason, he had surgery in February 2023. He wasn’t cleared to play when training camp began in advance of this season, though, and missed the first few games of the regular season.

Mikheyev returned with a vengeance, putting up five goals and eight points in his first nine games after making his season debut in late October. But his production fell off a cliff the rest of the season, and he finished the campaign with just one goal in 33 games after the All-Star break. He was a non-factor in the playoffs, too, going without a point and posting a -4 rating in 11 games.

At nearly $5M per season, they can’t stomach that level of inconsistent play in an offseason where new contracts are needed for most of their defense and a few key forwards, such as top pending UFA center Elias Lindholm. Teams around the league know that, Seravalli reports, and are asking the Canucks to attach assets to Mikheyev’s contract in any trade talks, but Allvin is “balking” at the notion.

Per Seravalli, the Canucks are countering teams’ asks by “saying that it takes a full year to recover from ACL repair, and Mikheyev should be much better next season.” But if they were confident he was going to be worth the money he’s owed next season, why would they be looking to move him?

Mikheyev is a rare overseas undrafted free agent signing success story, sticking in the majors ever since the Maple Leafs brought him over from Russia in 2019. But his career-best point total is only 32, although he did make it happen in only 53 games for the Leafs in 2021-22. That platform year earned him the four-year, $19M commitment from Vancouver with a 12-team no-trade list.

While he replicated that 0.6 points per game pace in his first year with the Canucks, he hasn’t been able to stretch that level of offensive performance over a season in which he’s stayed healthy. His 78 games played this season was actually a career-high by quite a wide margin, eclipsing the 54 contests he played in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.

If there was one season left on his deal, it may be a different story. But with two years left and reduced leverage due to his no-trade list, it’s a near-certainty that they’ll need to give up assets to completely get out from under his deal. Buying him out is also an option and would yield a cap penalty ranging from $1.15M to $2.15M annually over the next four seasons, per CapFriendly.