What your team is thankful for: Vancouver Canucks

As we approach the end of the year, PHR continues its look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Vancouver Canucks.

Who are the Canucks thankful for?

Elias Pettersson

Amid turbulent times in Vancouver, the Canucks do find themselves with one of the brightest pieces in the entire league: Elias Pettersson. Already a clear star in the NHL, the 24-year-old took the next step this season with a massive breakout, featuring 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points through just 31 games.

The young Swede is signed through next season at a $7.5M cap hit, expiring as a RFA, and was recently listed as the one untouchable player in the Canucks organization. Pettersson being “untouchable” might seem obvious on a team with a few superstars. However, that designation is somewhat dubious on a team that needs to decide which direction to head in.

Once this summer begins, regardless of the direction the team chooses to go in, the organization will surely need to focus on negotiations with their superstar center to keep him from hitting the UFA market in a couple of years. Extensions with J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko are an encouraging sign of things to come, but the issues with captain and pending UFA Bo Horvat do raise concerns.

Regardless of contract concerns or the success of the current build, Pettersson has taken himself from a solid top-six forward to superstar status this season. Having him, whether that’s to carry the team on his back, to build around, to ultimately deal for assets or something else, is a blessing for the organization, especially as it goes through these difficult times.

What are the Canucks thankful for?

Assets

Regardless of who is untouchable or not in Vancouver, and independent of how the team chooses to navigate its future, the organization is lucky to have a bevy of assets that hold substantial weight on the trade market for different reasons. The most clear-cut of these is Horvat.

After negotiations appeared to break down between the Canucks and Horvat’s camp, it seemed as though the struggling Canucks would likely deal their captain before this winter’s trade deadline. 

Normally, the rental of a responsible two-way forward who was also good for 60 points would fetch a massive haul on the market, but that’s not necessarily the story here. This year, Horvat has been much the same player with one significant change: he’s on pace for 60 goals. If Horvat keeps that level of production up, or even remains close, Vancouver could be looking at a package of picks and prospects not seen at the deadline in some time.

Another interesting pending UFA could be first-year winger Andrei Kuzmenko. The former KHL star chose to come to North America this offseason and after being pursued by a number of NHL teams, ultimately signed a one-year ELC with Vancouver. Expectations were high for the winger, though he’s arguably eclipsed them, registering 29 points, 14 of them goals, through 32 games.

Outside of the “untouchable” Pettersson, perhaps Vancouver’s biggest asset could be Quinn Hughes, who Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman estimated would require a “mammoth” haul to get Vancouver to trade him. The 23-year-old, signed through 2026-27 at a $7.85M cap hit, has blossomed into an elite playmaking defenseman for Vancouver. There’s no shortage of teams who might find themselves interested in the defenseman, though presumably the Canucks’ asking price could drive them away. While there’s been no connection between the two teams, it is interesting to consider the team best-equipped to make this kind of trade, the New Jersey Devils, already have both of Quinn’s brothers in the organization.

What would the Canucks be even more thankful for?

A clear direction

After losing their first seven games to start the season, the Canucks were able to bounce back, even finding themselves just a couple of points out of a playoff spot at times. The team’s play hasn’t simply been mediocre since the rough start but instead has been up and down.

Comments and action from management have lead some to believe the team could be headed for a rebuild, some to believe they need a short-term reset and some believing the team is still trying to compete. Complicating the situation is the team’s 2021-22 season and the offseason that followed. 

Last season was rather similar to this one, a rough start, followed by a rebound, then just missing the playoffs. The team appeared to need a clear direction last year too, and re-signing new head coach Bruce Boudreau, extending J.T. Miller and signing Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev seemed to indicate the team was all-in. But, this confusing start, the lack of a Horvat extension and the previously discussed comments from management still make that unclear.

It would seem what Vancouver needs most in order to ice a team competitive enough to compete for a Stanley Cup is simply direction. A full-scale rebuild might extend the process, but the assets they have now should bring back plenty of quality pieces. A temporary re-tool would make sense given the players they have signed long-term and what they could get back for players like Horvat and Kuzmenko. Continuing to compete as is wouldn’t be surprising either, given the team’s ability to bounce back and the players they have now, but that could be risky given Horvat’s contract status.

What should be on the Canucks holiday wish list?

A Horvat extension, or a massive trade package

Already discussed in detail, the Canucks have had issues extending Horvat and at this point, a trade seems more likely than ever. Even with broken negotiations and a struggling team, it’s easy to understand why the Canucks would still prefer to work out a deal with Horvat.

It’s hard to imagine, so long as they get a respectable deal, that anyone would blame the organization either way. The issue comes with Horvat’s ability to simply leave on July 1. Obvious as it sounds, the Canucks cannot allow Horvat to simply walk like Johnny Gaudreau did with the Calgary Flames last offseason, how Artemi Panarin did with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019 or how John Tavares left the New York Islanders in 2018.

What was the case for Calgary, Columbus and New York (playing in clear competitive windows or clear management improvements incoming) isn’t necessarily the same for Vancouver. The Canucks have plenty of talented players (many of them signed long-term), a legendary executive in Jim Rutherford and a star coach in Boudreau. Still, the team has been lacking direction for a few years now with no clear sign of a new one coming. Losing Horvat for nothing wouldn’t necessarily make a decision for them on their direction, but would make whatever option they eventually chose just that much more difficult to be successful with.