With less than 48 hours to go until the trade deadline, more and more names keep getting knocked off the board.
While the Vancouver Canucks made what could be their biggest addition well ahead of March 8th via the Elias Lindholm trade, that doesn’t mean they’re not done making any further tweaks to their lineup. Look no further than the buzz surrounding Jake Guentzel these last few weeks and the speculation during last night’s game in Los Angeles, where Elias Lindholm left the bench for an extended period mere hours after rumours suggested he could be on the move again.
You can add another player to the mix that Vancouver is interested in, as Rick Dhaliwal reported this morning on the latest episode of Donnie and Dhali — The Team that the Canucks are one of many teams keeping an eye on Jason Zucker of the Arizona Coyotes.
“Talked to Zucker’s agent last night, a lot of teams in on him, including Vancouver and Chris [Johnston] just told us the Canucks are poking around Zucker again this morning,” Dhaliwal said. “Three weeks ago, the Canucks didn’t have interest in Zucker. This is a classic case of what happens: prices are high, then you go down lower on your list of ‘This guy is too high, The price is too high.’ And then all of a sudden, ‘Hey, we’re interested in Zucker again.’ So keep an eye on Zucker in Vancouver as well.”
Dhaliwal later added that he believes the Canucks have made an offer on the American winger, while Chris Johnston of The Atheltic came on the show and confirmed that the interest is real.
There are two ways to dissect this report from Dhaliwal. Either the Canucks have a fallback option available if the push to bring in Guentzel falls through, or Zucker is one of multiple forwards that may be arriving in Vancouver in the coming days.
It certainly checks out, given reports this morning that the Canucks have made an aggressive push to try and snag Guentzel out of Pittsburgh. Even if it’s not him, then it signals the team is interested in making an additional add up front and Zucker is now the latest name to emerge as a potential option.
Zucker, 32, has appeared in 51 games so far this season where he has put up 25 points (nine goals and 16 assists) in that span. Originally selected 59th overall in the 2010 Draft by the Minnesota Wild, he is currently in his 14th NHL season which he has split between the Wild, Penguins, and Coyotes. At the time of writing, he has played in 679 games and has recorded 363 points (191 goals and 172 assists) so far.
He is on a one-year contract that comes with a $5.3 million cap hit, meaning that salary retention or a player going back the other way might be needed to make this deal work for Vancouver. Adding on a contract of a similar value along with a draft pick might be enough to make the deal more enticing for the Coyotes to accept.
He is by no means on the same level as Guentzel, but Zucker would not be a bad consolation prize if the Canucks ultimately miss out on the Penguins’ top trade chip. After all, Zucker has proven in the past to be a 45 or more-point scorer and would help provide some additional offence for a team that is among the best in the league. A scenario where Vancouver finishes their deadline with him and a player like Tyler Toffoli could be just as impactful as getting Guentzel.
Of course, Rutherford and Allvin know Zucker well, as he played for the Penguins from 2019-20 to 2022-23 season. There’s little surprise that Zucker has emerged as a name the Canucks, and many other NHL teams, are interested in.
Stats from Hockey-Reference.com.
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