Current Canucks assets with underrated trade value

It’s no secret that the Vancouver Canucks are looking to make changes this offseason. Based on how 2024/25 went, they pretty much have to.

But what exact moves are GM Patrik Allvin and Co. going to make as they attempt to improve the roster? That’s significantly harder to predict. For better or worse, this front office has been unpredictable at times and has certainly made a number of trades that have come virtually out of nowhere. Perhaps the summer of 2025 will feature more surprises.

Certain scenarios have already been discussed ad nauseam. Most folks have made peace with the fact that the Canucks are likely to trade their 2025 first-round pick, which just got slotted at 15^th overall. Much was said about the status of top prospect Tom Willander until the sudden conclusion to his terse contract stand-off.

But a team can’t really move into an offseason of trade negotiations with only a couple of pieces on the table. It will be necessary for the Canucks to keep all their options open, and that means considering dealing away some players and assets that might not seem obvious at first.

With that in mind, we’d like to offer some commentary on a few Vancouver pieces that might be currently underrated in terms of their trade value.

Conor Garland

Through four seasons in Vancouver, Garland has quietly developed into a highly consistent producer. As a Canuck, he’s played between 77 and 82 games each season, scored between 17 and 20 goals, and put up between 46 and 52 points. That sort of reliability, alone, has great value.

Those 194 points since his trade to Vancouver are the 104^th most among forwards in the same stint, meaning that Garland has essentially put up consistent second line scoring numbers.

That’s to say nothing of Garland’s intangible qualities, which include an immense degree of competitiveness, some genuine agitation chops, and a propensity for down-low puck possession.

And he does it all for what is an increasingly bargain rate of $4.95 million. As of next season, that’s going to be an almost league-average cap hit.

Garland is a UFA after next season. Really, the Canucks should be hanging on to him, as consistent production is not something they have in abundance. But if, in the course of attempting to improve the team, another organization makes a compelling offer, the Canucks would have to consider it. It’s still unknown whether Garland is looking to re-sign in Vancouver, but most would not be surprised if he instead chose to return to the USA. If that’s the case, maybe cashing in on the last year of his contract is the wisest move.

And maybe doing so long before the 2026 Trade Deadline to avoid another Boeser-esque situation is the even wiser move.

Filip Hronek

Really, we don’t talk enough about Hronek as an extremely valuable asset. For the time being, the Canucks should probably have no interest in trading him. He’s their top RD by a big country mile, and the succession plan behind him is currently the aging Tyler Myers and Victor Mancini.

But get Tom Willander under contract (update: check!) and into the NHL sooner rather than later, and perhaps the situation changes a little.

In any case, make no mistake: if the Canucks were to put Hronek on the market, the offers would be overwhelming.

Right-shooting defencemen are the rarest type of player in hockey, and RDs that can play on the top pairing even more so. There are probably fewer than 30 total in the entire league, and the Canucks have one of them in Hronek. They also have him signed until 2032 to a percentage of the cap that will only go down from here on out.

Hronek returned an unprotected first-round pick and a second-round pick when he was traded to Vancouver in the first place. He’s only added to his value since then – through his production, his increasing defensive responsibility, and certainly through his contract extension. Combine that with the general dearth of RDs available at any given time, and the Canucks probably come pretty close to doubling that trade value today.

Nils Höglander

It cannot be disputed that Höglander had a dreadful start to his 2024/25 season. On the whole and in retrospect, however, the campaign wasn’t a total loss. Sure, the goal totals came down, but that felt inevitable after a 24-goal run in 2023/24 brought on by, among other things, some serious shooting luck.

But this year, Höglander improved in his ability to utilize his linemates, as evidenced by a career-high 17 assists, and in his general responsibility, as evidenced by the increasing trust he received from Rick Tocchet.

Höglander does get a pay bump this year, up to a $3 million cap hit. But that’s small potatoes in this new era of the expanding cap. A $3 million hit is already below average and will become even more so after the next round of UFA contracts are signed.

We’re not sure if Höglander is yet the kind of asset that could demand an impressive return on his own. Instead, he strikes us more as a low-cost addition to a larger trade that could do more to ‘move the needle’ than the average sweetener.

And that might be something the Canucks badly need as they attempt to close out one or more meaningful deals this summer.  

Thatcher Demko

The goalie market is as dry as an Osoyoos July right now. Take a look at the list of available UFAs when you get a chance, and realize there’s not a single starter amongst the set, and only a few high-quality backups. There are fewer good goalies available right now than at any time in recent memory, but that doesn’t do anything to change the demand for them.

What this means is that a lot of teams are going to have to compromise. Teams with real chances at competing are going to have to settle for a goaltending solution with question marks and hope for the best.

And you know who’s a great goaltender with question marks? Thatcher Demko.

Sure, the Canucks’ netminder has well-documented injury concerns. But he’s still one season removed from a Vezina nomination, only under contract for one more year at a bargain rate, and did show quite well upon his late-season return to the lineup this year.

There just has to be teams out there looking for a goalie right now who see the Demko option as a stronger option than the others they’ve got on the table. Based on that, we’d like to suggest that Demko’s starting value is already at least a first-round pick, and that the bidding could go higher from there. For a Canucks team desperate for assets and already in possession of another goalie (signed for longer), this path has to at least be considered.

The 2026 First Round Pick

Look, no bones about it, the vibes around the Canucks are bad right now, and everyone knows it. The general belief around the league is that this franchise is mid-collapse, and that things are only going to get worse from here.

Now, plenty in this fandom and mediasphere will dispute that. But that doesn’t mean the Canucks can’t use the perception to their advantage.

Enter: the Canucks’ 2026 first round pick. It’s not something they should be trading too freely, but it could be something to keep in the back pocket should a truly special player become available.

The appeal to the team trading for the pick is the possibility that the Canucks fully tank out and it turns into a lottery pick. The appeal to the Canucks is that preventing that outcome from coming to pass would be entirely in their hands thereafter.

It’d be a risk, but we imagine it’s a risk that plenty of other organizations are willing to take. Enough to make this pick at least a little more valuable than the average future-based first.