Could the Vancouver Canucks just settle for the cap space and let Brock Boeser walk?
Sekeres and Price: Jeff Paterson wonders if the Vancouver Canucks could hold onto pending UFA winger Brock Boeser past the trade deadline, and left him walk to free agency and just settle for the added salary cap space.
“This isn’t a revelation. Unrestricted free agent that this general manager has questioned in the past. And I don’t get the sense that you get to pass the middle of January, and there really hasn’t been much on the discussion front, in terms of an extension.
I think a lot of people can see where this is probably headed, and it’s just a question, do they pull the trade, pull the trigger on trade and try to get something from Boeser? Or do you ride it out and hope that he has another playoff like you did last year, and thank him for his services, and take the cap space that you would be committing?
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And that’s sort of the prize in all of this, from a Canuck standpoint. Sure, you’d love a return on an asset, but I’m not convinced. I think we may see that this, Boeser stays through the trade deadline. Maybe they double back after the season and give it one last shot.
But I think the Canucks have drawn a pretty firm line in the sand in terms of the dollar amount and the term that they’re willing to give him. And as a 28-year-old unrestricted per agent, with a 40 gold season on his resume, you know he’s going to get paid, and he should. Like, you work to these opportunities. If it’s not here, he’s going to get his money somewhere.
But I do think that there is significant risk involved for the Vancouver Canucks in locking this player up to certainly the max kind of contract. And I don’t even know if that’s on the table from the Canucks perspective right now.
So Boeser has, you know, I do think he loves it here in Vancouver. It’s all, the only place he’s known as a professional hockey player. Talked to (Boeser) about taking his dogs for walks out to Pacific Spirit Park and clearing his mind and all those types of things. Like he is a Vancouverite right now.
But is he going to take a six-year contract at $6.5 million when somebody might be able to go seven by $7.5 (million), right? Like it’s a business ultimately, and he has to do what’s best for him.
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Do the Vancouver Canucks really want to bring Brock Boeser back next season?
Daily Faceoff: Frank Seravalli on Brock Boeser’s future with the Vancouver Canucks.
“Does Brock Boeser still want to be part of that? He went out on a limb over the summer and to say, you know, prior, two summers ago, to say, I want to be here. But how would you feel if after 517 games in a Vancouver Canucks uniform and parts of nine seasons, to hear your GM say, “We’re still evaluating him”?
If you don’t know now, then you don’t know. And that also means you’re kind of not getting a commitment from them either. So I think there’s a lot to unpack there.