Insider reveals what direction the Canucks front office is headed

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Liam
December 5, 2022 (4:12 PM)

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With another two embarrassing losses to Washington and Florida this week, and barely edging out a win over the Arizona Coyotes, the Vancouver Canucks seem to have finally decided that they need change.

Again, the Canucks have essentially eliminated themselves from the playoffs in the first two months of the season, as has been commonplace with the team for some time now. In previous seasons with the team headed by Benning, the team would disappoint, and yet prove enough they were capable of more - which lead to management locking up most of their players to long term contracts.

After finally bucking the cycle and firing Benning for Jim Rutherford and Patrick Allvin, perhaps finally some real change can come to the Canucks, and lead to some success. Thomas Drance of the Athletic believes that change may be imminent, and will begin with some core players.

Brick Boeser, who was set to be scratched against Arizona, seems to be the first player on the move. Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada that Boeser's agent would be able to facilitate a move to another team, and while Drance alleges Boeser has not requested a trade, he did confirm that the club and the player's camp are mutually interested in exploring a fit for Boeser elsewhere.

In addition, the Canucks will need to make a tough decision regarding their unrestricted free agent captain, Bo Horvat. With 19 goals and 26 points in 25 games, Horvat is having a career year that will fetch a large contract on the open market. Drance reports that the Canucks may be unwilling to pay the price required to keep Horvat, especially with the expected roster fluidity, and potentially will explore trading their captain. There's still a chance Horvat remains a Canuck, but internally, management has been pessimistic as of late.

Finally, the Canucks have a decision to make with their Russian free agent, Andrei Kuzmenko. With 21 points in 24 games, he's producing like a extremely valuable NHL player, however with his small sample size and age, determining a fair contract may be difficult. It's possible again that the Canucks re-sign Kuzmenko, who sees Vancouver as a good fit for him, or they let him walk to free agency for salary cap reasons.

In sum, the Vancouver Canucks are in a state of turmoil, brought upon themselves for waiting to pull the trigger on a rebuild for several seasons now. One thing's for sure, signing a 30 year old JT Miller to a 7 years at $8M a year looms large over their cap constraints now.