Vancouver Canucks likely sellers of sorts at the trade deadline
Iain McIntyre of Sportsnet.com: As the pressure mounts to become a seller due to record and COVID, Jim Benning steers the boat onward. Vancouver will resume playing within the next week.
The problem is Vancouver will have to play 19 games in a month basically. On the bright side, they are pretty much out of the playoff hunt. But, can they sell anyone at this point? Would teams be patient with so many players who had tested positive and all? It’s a great question.
Vancouver needs bottom-six help and depth on both sides massively. The problem again is what to move. Brandon Sutter could be sold off. Alex Edler might be worth something too. After that, it comes down to Jake Virtanen and maybe Jordie Benn. Benn and Sutter would be more coveted if not for COVID honestly. Again, this all depends on what other general managers could offer.
Most Vancouver players will be Plan B’s or Plan C’s.
Ken Holland and the Edmonton Oilers lack flexibility…
Mark Spector of Sportsnet: It is likely that Ken Holland and the Edmonton Oilers will not be able to swing a bigger deal before the trade deadline on Monday afternoon. Holland argued in the past that he had already made his moves before the season.
The needs are still a top-six left-winger and a bottom-six center that can win faceoffs. Holland sent out a couple of second-round picks last trade deadline so picks are not as plentiful this time. Edmonton can be easily outbid for center help as that left-winger seems more a fantasy than anything else.
Derek Ryan still represents as the best candidate for the center role and he can pop in a little bit of offense as well. The problem is that $3.125 million price tag. Can Holand negotiate around that? There is Brandon Sutter and maybe Ryan Dzingel but Sutter is coming off COVID protocol and Dzingel is someone Ottawa may keep.
That leaves few options for Holland. He can use a 2022 pick maybe and trade one of his young defensemen but the general manager does not really want to do that.
Hence, Ken Holland may be stuff making just a minor depth move hoping for the best come the playoffs.