Canucks Want To Make A Trade But Partners Are Hard To Come By

The Vancouver Canucks are an aggressive team under President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford and General Manager Patrik Allvin. There is a lot of smoke surrounding the Canucks as the J.T. Miller trade talks are heating up. 

As it was reported over the weekend, the Rangers and the Canucks were close on a Miller trade. However, things fell apart. We know the Canucks are looking to move him, but they need dance partners to make a trade happen. 

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Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio in conversation with Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin and mentioned as much as the Canucks want to do something, they need a trade partner to make something happen. 

Well, I think they would do something significant if they could Gordo there. They thought they were close to doing something last weekend. It didn’t happen. And we all know they’re looking right. So it’s, I think it’s been a really disappointing season there. That’s a bad loss. As you said, there’s no other way to put it. You can’t force it right. You have to have a willing partner. And I think they’re looking out there for willing partners. They’ve been close. They’ve been talking. I mean, at this point in time, I really don’t know what to say, other than they’re trying. But you can’t force it. 

Canucks Trying to Find the Right Return for Miller

One of the main reasons why the deal with the Rangers fell apart was because of parameters in terms of conditions of the first-round pick. As expected, the Canucks were looking to get a package similar to what the Winnipeg Jets got from the Los Angeles Kings for Pierre-Luc Dubois. 

Recall that the Jets got Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari, Alex Iafallo, and a 2nd round pick for Dubois. You know the Canucks were looking for that. And the package the Rangers were giving the Canucks was close to it. However, if they want to get Miller out the door, the Vancouver Canucks could be changing their ask for Miller. 

Friedman continued: 

“Its obvious now that the Canucks have kind of changed their parameters a bit. They’ve gone from saying we’ll do a center to will do futures. It’s pretty clear to me that they’re motivated to do something here but need a trade partner, and there’s lots of debate about how close that Rangers deal came on the weekend. To me, it was close enough that the player was told he might not be playing, and that says to me that the Canucks thought it was pretty close.”

The Canucks are taking calls from the Rangers still. It has been reported that the Dallas Stars are in the mix with the Carolina Hurricanes. There are three to four teams that have permission to reach out to the Miller’s agent along with the Canucks. However, the New Jersey Devils are not one of them. 

But it will be interesting to see if things pick up between the Vancouver Canucks and the other teams listed. However, the Canucks want to move out J.T. Miller before Four Nations. 

Next: Bruins Could be Underdog in J.T. Miller Trade to Bolster Top Six