Best case scenario: Which big names might be buyable if the Canucks are contending at the 2026 Trade Deadline?

The Vancouver Canucks are currently in their “Schrodinger’s Cat” phase of the 2025-26 season. Nobody yet knows if they’re going to leap to the occasion and return to the playoffs, or if they’re going to come out with all the energy of a dead feline.

With so many different outcomes feasibly on the table for this season, we thought it was a fine time to explore some of the more extreme scenarios.

Earlier in the week, we took a look at a “worst-case scenario” in which the Canucks found themselves well out of the playoffs by the 2026 Trade Deadline, and noted that if such a scenario were to truly come to pass, then at least the team is set up well to sell some pending UFAs.

If such a pessimistic outlook proves problematic for you, then worry not; today, we have a topic that no one could possibly find controversial: the idea of the Canucks buying – or, even worse, renting – at the 2026 Trade Deadline.

We invite you, once again, to imagine a scenario in which we are approaching the March 2026 NHL Trade Deadline, and this time the Canucks are cruising to a playoff position. Think the 2023-24 campaign, where they spent most of the year at the top of the Pacific Division.

And, look, we know that even if that scenario were to come to pass, the idea of the Canucks going out and renting a pending UFA or two would still be unpopular, to say the least. Vancouver fans have all too much experience with the concept, including during the aforementioned 2023-24 season, when GM Patrik Allvin and Co. acquired pending UFA Elias Lindholm for a couple of months.

So, we know that even if the Canucks were to be at the top of the division by March 2026, there are still many among us who would not want them to be buyers. If that’s you, just keep in mind that this is little more than a hypothetical designed to explore the market for UFA rentals several months ahead of the deadline.

And for the rest of us, the scenario we’re considering is this: it’s late-February or early-March, the Canucks are looking like contenders again, and Allvin and Co. are looking to rent a pending UFA. Which big names might be available for them at that time? 

Martin Necas, Colorado Avalanche
C/RW, 26, 6’3”, 195lb
2025-26 Cap Hit: $6.5 million

	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Avg. TOI
2024-25	79	27	56	83	19:00

Aside from the really big names – and more on them later – Necas is easily the most productive pending UFA around, and he’s one that has some interesting context around him. For one, we know that the Canucks have specifically been interested in Necas before, due to their previous trade talks with his former team, the Carolina Hurricanes.

We also know, from Mikko Rantanen’s example last year, that the Avalanche are not hesitant to trade a pending UFA if they are unable to get them under contract. So, it’s a little more possible that he moves, as opposed to any other UFA on a playoff-bound team. And if his name is offered around, one has to assume the Canucks would show interest – especially if Necas plays more at centre this season.

Alex Tuch, Buffalo Sabres
RW, 29, 6’4”, 219lb
2025-26 Cap Hit: $4.75 million

	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Avg. TOI
2024-25	82	36	31	67	19:15

Most of the players on this list will be centres, for obvious reasons: it’s by far the Canucks’ greatest position of need. But Tuch earns a mention for a couple of reasons. For one, he’s incredibly talented, but in terms of his raw production and the pseudo-power-forward style that he plays. For another, there are those persistent rumours that, due to his spouse being from the Vancouver area, Tuch might look to sign with the Canucks when he hits UFA.

Perhaps, if Buffalo fails in their own attempt to make the playoffs, there is the possibility of an early-access deal. A right wing may not be the largest priority, but more scoring in general is, and if a player this good were to become available and specifically seek out Vancouver, then worrying about his position might be secondary.

Christian Dvorak, Philadelphia Flyers
C, 29, 6’1”, 190lb
2025-26 Cap Hit: $5.4 million

	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Avg. TOI
2024-25	82	12	21	33	15:15

Sure, Dvorak might not meet everyone’s qualifications as a ‘big name,’ with his career high of 38 points and general profile. However, we do know that the Canucks were heavily interested in him this past summer as a free agent. In the end, the Canucks were outbid by the Flyers, who made a somewhat preposterous offer of one year at $5.4 million. Although if the Flyers continue to miss out on the playoffs, Dvorak will be made available as a rental, and then maybe the Canucks could get their man – ideally, at a retained rate.

We don’t imagine too many folks would be excited about that outcome, but there must be something in Dvorak’s game that the Canucks like in order to pursue him as hard as they did. At the very least, there’s no reason for their interest to have suddenly dissipated.

Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
C, 39, 6’5”, 210lb
2025-26 Cap Hit: $6.1 million

	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Avg. TOI
2024-25	68	16	34	50	17:47

Of all the names on this list, here’s the biggest. Sure, Malkin, who turned 39 this past summer, isn’t quite what he used to be. But he’s still a better-than-average 2C at the very least, and a first ballot Hall of Famer with a long history of winning.

Malkin will be master of his own destiny, and he’ll only move if he wants to. But with many suspecting that this will be his last season in the NHL, there is the possibility that he wants one last shot at the playoffs, and thus requests a deadline trade to a contender. And, remember, under our hypothetical scenario here, the Canucks are playing like a contender!

Interestingly enough, though Jim Rutherford was the GM for one of Malkin’s Cup-winning clubs in Pittsburgh, the two have never negotiated with one another – Malkin was under the same contract when Rutherford arrived in Pittsburgh as when he left. Still, there’s at least some working relationship there, and if that’s enough to convince Malkin to choose Vancouver as his NHL swan song, then this is a decidedly fun possibility.

Nick Schmaltz, Utah Mammoth
C, 29, 6’0”, 184lb
2025-26 Cap Hit: $5.85 million

	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Avg. TOI
2024-25	82	20	43	63	18:35

Like many who have spent their time in the combined Arizona-Utah franchise, Schmaltz has gone a little under the radar in his NHL career. But he’s quietly developed into a very consistent producer down the middle, with his last four season point totals being 59, 58, 61, and 63. That’s some 2C scoring that can really be relied upon – from a right-handed 2C, to boot.

At age 29, two years older than Clayton Keller, Schmaltz might be just slightly out of the range of the Mammoth’s current build. If their bid for the playoffs is unsuccessful and Schmaltz remains unsigned, he makes sense to be traded for more future assets. And if so, then while he’s not a household name, he would be a name that makes a lot of sense for the Canucks.

J-G Pageau, New York Islanders
C, 32, 5’11”, 195lb
2025-26 Cap Hit: $5 million

	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Avg. TOI
2024-25	79	14	28	42	17:00

This is the point at which we knew we were reaching the end of the list – and more on that later. That said, Pageau is probably an overall underrated NHL centre who typically paces ahead of 40 points while providing better-than-average defensive coverage and plenty of intangibles.

He’s not a perfect 2C solution – he might not even be a 2C on a true contender – but he’s a valuable piece of depth down the middle all the same, and the kind that playoff-bound teams are usually looking to pick up around deadline time.

Conclusion

We don’t always feel the need to write a conclusion to shopping lists like this, but this time it feels appropriate.

And the conclusion is this: honestly, this isn’t a great year for UFA rentals. There are some really, really big names still on the pending UFA list – names like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin, and Kyle Connor. But those names are all so big that they’ll either be extended by their current teams or, if not, traded in a fashion that’s a bit over-and-above the whole rental concept.

But that secondary tier of pending UFAs, from which the ‘top tier’ rentals are typically drawn, is actually relatively light this year. With all due respect to the players themselves, you know if we’re hitting “Dvorak” and “Pageau” on a list of big names, it might just be a short barrel we’re scraping from.

But then again, maybe the most interesting conclusions to be drawn from this class of UFA rentals are the lack thereof.

When it comes to the Canucks and their own pending UFAs, maybe this is a reason for them to consider doing some selling, even if they’re approaching the playoffs come March. In a limited market, players like Kiefer Sherwood and Teddy Blueger could return some outsized assets.

And for those who bristled at the very concept of this article, and are dead-set against the Canucks doing any sort of renting, then maybe the limited market is great news. Fewer rentals available, after all, should mean less of a chance of the Canucks renting, right?

Either way, this was nothing more than a glimpse of a future that may or may not come to pass – but that, no matter what, is months away.