Canucks offseason centre trade target: Josh Norris

The report from Patrick Johnston above was that the failed deal centred around centres Filip Chytil from Vancouver and Josh Norris from Ottawa, with an unknown amount of sweeteners and adjustments on either side (but most likely on the Vancouver side). In the end, Norris was instead flipped to Buffalo, along with Jacob Bernard-Docker, for Dylan Cozens, Dennis Gilbert, and a second round pick.

One can’t ever get too caught up on the trades that got away. But this one could sting a little more than the average fallen-through deal. Why? Well, because besides his own brothers, Norris is said to be one of Quinn Hughes’ best friends in all of hockey. Acquiring Norris would not just give the Canucks a good option in their search for a 2C, it would have assumedly significantly upped their chances of eventually extending Hughes.

Sure, Norris comes with a boatload of injury issues, primarily concerning his shoulder. But if it was going to be Chytil at the centre of the deal, well then that would just constitute swapping out one injury for another. It’s a bit of a wash.

Well, it’s the 2025 offseason, and the Canucks still need a 2C, and they still want to keep Hughes around. Maybe it’s time to re-open those talks, this time with the Sabres, and reconsider the idea of acquiring Norris.

The Player

There’s a lot to like about Norris’ profile as a player. He just turned 26 in May, he stands 6’2” and 196 pounds, and he brings with him an abundance of variety and skill.

The San Jose Sharks selected Norris at 19^th overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. A year later, Norris was one of the main pieces going back to Ottawa in exchange for Erik Karlsson, alongside Chris Tierney, Rudolfs Balcers, Dylan Demelo, and a first round pick.

Norris would play one more season for the University of Michigan thereafter, putting up 19 points in 17 games for 2018/19 while battling through injuries – something that would become a main feature of his hockey career.

Norris’ pro career got off to a hot start. He spent the majority of the 2019/20 season with the Belleville Senators of the AHL, where he’d notch 31 goals and 61 points in 56 games. He was named the AHL’s rookie of the year as a result, and snuck in his first three NHL games.

This was the last of Norris’ time in the minors. He joined the Senators full-time for 2020/21, scoring 17 goals and 35 points in 56 games during that pandemic-truncated season.

But it was Norris’ sophomore campaign that really turned heads. The 2021/22 season saw him post a remarkable 35 goals and 55 points in just 66 games. This rate of 0.53 goals-per-game tied Norris for 14^th in the entire NHL that year with the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Jack Hughes, and Jake Guentzel – and just a couple percentage points behind Connor McDavid.

It should come as no surprise that Norris was rewarded following this season with his current contract: a massive eight-year, $7.95 million AAV extension. But, then, it could be said that since that signing, Norris has failed to return full value on his contract.

Why not? Primarily because his ongoing shoulder issues also began in 2021/22.

Norris’ first recorded shoulder injury came in late January, 2022, and was initially thought to be season-ending, though he returned in early March. The worst was yet to come.

Norris injured, or perhaps re-injured, the same shoulder early on in October of the 2022/23 season. That time, he was kept out of the lineup until mid-January. But he only made it back for three games before the shoulder started acting up again. Norris was placed back on LTIR and went on to miss the entire rest of the season and a good chunk of the offseason. His final stats for 2022/23? Eight games, two goals, one assist.

The 2023/24 season started off better. Norris returned to the lineup, and stayed relatively healthy until February, aside from a brief January absence for an undisclosed upper-body injury. By that point, Norris was up to 16 goals and 30 points through 50 games – not up to his sophomore standards, but not bad after most of a season off.

Then the same shoulder was injured again, and Norris’ season was over.

That brings us to the most recent 2024/25 season. Here, Norris returned again as of training camp, and stayed relatively healthy, missing a brief stint in January and then most of February with undisclosed upper-body injuries.

His scoring rebounded a bit, too, with 20 goals and 33 points through 53 games. Partway through, of course, Norris was dealt to Buffalo, but he’d only make it through three games with them (one goal, one assist). He’d miss the rest of the season.

Now, here’s the good news. By all accounts, this latest season-ending injury is not a recurrence of the shoulder injury. It’s been described as a ‘mid-body injury,’ which is a term you only really hear in hockey when they want you to know it’s not a shoulder injury.

That, at the very least, has to be encouraging. Norris made it through the year without any shoulder trouble, and some folks weren’t sure he could do that.

Speaking of what folks think of Norris, scouts still see a dynamically-talented centre with the size, first-step quickness, and shot to be dangerous in all facets of the game. He’s one of those rare shoot-first centres, which could work wonders on a Canucks team that features an awful lot of passers.

Of course, all that only applies when Norris is healthy, and that’s always going to be the big ‘what if’ at play here.

The Cost

Let’s get this out of the way right away: it won’t be a Chytil-for-Norris swap now that Buffalo is at the other end of the phone.

Buffalo’s middle-six centre depth is a little overplugged right now, with Tage Thompson, Jiri Kulich, and Ryan McLeod sitting on top of a depth chart that is also loaded with youth. That, combined with Norris’ injury troubles, is why the Sabres might be comfortable flipping him so soon after acquiring him. But it’s also why they wouldn’t have much interest in Chytil.

The Sabres are also not particularly interested in draft picks. We can imagine a world in which they see the Canucks’ 15OA as valuable currency to later flip for established talent, so maybe there’s a discussion to be had there. But, for the most part, the Sabres want to break the longest playoff-less streak in the NHL, and they want to do so ASAP. Their primary interest is in players they can use right now.

The Sabres have a particular need for right-side defenders. On that front, the Canucks could definitely help them out, but the potential asking price is worrisome.

Filip Hronek would seem to be a much more valuable asset than Norris, which makes for a bad starting point. As well, trading Hughes’ preferred partner for Hughes’ friend seems a little counterproductive.

One has to imagine the Sabres would be very interested in Tom Willander. Maybe even in a somewhat straight-up trade for Norris. Willander could step right into their lineup and provide a partner with upside for Buffalo’s litany of LD options.

But that would entail the Canucks giving up an ELC ready to step into their own lineup – and under team control for a long time – for a player with serious injury concerns. That’s a big, big risk, and we’re not sure it’s one the Canucks are or should be prepared to take.

The preference, if there is one, should definitely be to talk the Sabres into accepting something around the 15OA and then using that chip to do their business elsewhere. If not, the asking price is almost certainly going to be something that hurts more.

The Fit

We’ve mostly covered this already. Norris, when healthy, is a top-tier 2C that still possesses some upward potential – perhaps more than the average player his age, given how much time he has missed thus far. Of all the centres possibly available to the Canucks this offseason, they won’t find many with more skill than Norris.

His speed and size combo is something that GM Patrik Allvin and Co. clearly covet. That he’s a shooting centre blends well with playmaking wingers like Conor Garland, and provides good backup to a 1C in Elias Pettersson that simply doesn’t shoot as often anymore.

And we cannot ignore the Hughes factor. If acquiring Norris makes it more likely that Hughes re-signs in Vancouver, can you really put a price on that? We’re not going to go as far as to say that trading for Norris guarantees anything, but it certainly has to up the odds of keeping Hughes around, no?

That’s a value that no other offseason centre trade target can claim – except, perhaps, Jack Hughes himself.