Canucks' uncertainty remains after inaction at trade deadline

VANCOUVER – In a seller's market, the Vancouver Canucks decided Friday that the players they had available to trade were more valuable to them than the assets other teams were willing to surrender.

And listening to general manager Patrik Allvin explain the Canucks’ inaction at the National Hockey League trade deadline, the decisions to hold on to Brock Boeser and others were not difficult.

“If I told you what I was offered for Brock Boeser, I think I would have to run out of here because you would not believe me,” Allvin told reporters in the middle of his post-deadline press conference at Rogers Arena.

Earlier, he said: “The biggest reason, I felt, that we didn't do any moves here today was there was not a whole lot of market return on our players, unfortunately. It didn't really make sense (to make a trade).”

After months of conjecture and uncertainty about his future, Boeser, a 40-goal scorer last season who is the longest-tenured Canuck, remains with the team. So do third-line centre Pius Suter and depth defenceman Derek Forbort, who are the other Vancouver players eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1.

All three will be in the Canucks’ lineup Friday night against the Minnesota Wild.

But the uncertainty will remain.

There have been sporadic negotiations between Allvin and Boeser’s agent, Ben Hankinson, on a new contract for the 28-year-old winger who has spent eight years in Vancouver and badly wants to remain.

Boeser reportedly declined a five-year extension. The longest contract he can sign with another team will be seven years. Can six years get a contract done in Vancouver? For the right money, of course.

But the passing of the annual trade deadline transfers all leverage to the players. 

“We continue to talk here, and I have a great relationship with Brock's agent,” Allvin said. “So he's been informed for months where this might end up. It's definitely not a surprise, I don't think for either one of us, that Brock is still here. I would imagine that Brock is extremely hungry to finish off strong here and prove that he is a good player in this league and we'll continue to talk.”

A point-per-game player to start the season before he suffered a concussion in November, Boeser still has a respectable 18 goals and 37 points in 54 games. But he hasn’t scored a goal in the last six games and clearly is missing long-time linemate J.T. Miller, who was traded to the New York Rangers on Jan. 31 to deflate drama around the team.

Boeser, Suter and Forbort all participated in the Canucks’ morning skate ahead of Friday’s night’s home game against the Minnesota Wild.

To varying degrees, the bargaining positions for their next contracts will be affected by their play and the Canucks’ success in the final quarter of the regular season.

With the team mired in the mushy middle of the NHL standings, still just one point out of a playoff spot despite all the key injuries and unexpected problems the Canucks have endured this season, it was always a possibility that Allvin was going to keep his players on Friday.

He indicated to Sportsnet last weekend that the Canucks would not be renting players on expiring contracts, nor simply selling off their own assets to get something rather than nothing. 

With injured superstar defenceman Quinn Hughes under contract for two more seasons and management trying to provide him a contending team as an incentive to stay, a rebuild for the Canucks isn’t a consideration.

“I believe that with this group, we're just going to continue to build and get better,” Allvin said Saturday. “I don't envision us to take a step back.”

But they didn’t take a step forward on Friday, either.

“If we would have positioned ourselves a little bit better (in the standings), that definitely would have made it easier,” Allvin explained to reporters. “I guess the market is always tough to read, but with so many teams still involved, you could see (with) some of the players that got moved, the prices were high.

“I think you guys know us. I don't think I use this day as the defining day of how you build a team. For us, it's a continuation from Day 1. I'm happy with the players we have. And again, if there wasn't any market value, I think that's up to other teams how they view our players.”

Allvin said he believes the Canucks can still be a playoff team.

Hughes, who has missed seven of the last 10 games due to injury, skated on his own Friday morning and could be back within the week, Allvin said. Coach Rick Tocchet said Hughes would not play Friday.

On his third injury this season, starting goalie Thatcher Demko is also expected back before the playoffs.

One of the NHL’s best teams defensively since December, the Canucks just need to score more goals. That wasn’t going to get easier if Boeser was traded Friday for a draft pick.

Since Jan. 7, the Canucks are last in the NHL with 2.18 goals per game.

“Well, I feel like both Rick and I have repeated ourselves (about the need for) consistency,” Allvin said of the path to the playoffs. “But I do think that this group is talented enough, and we've shown in different games. . . that we're capable of playing really good hockey. I do like that. Lately, underlying numbers are indicating we're playing the right way. No secret that goal scoring has been a challenge for us, but I think in terms of defending, in terms of the details that hopefully will pay off down the stretch here, it’s coming along really well. Hopefully, we can be a little bit more creative (offensively) and get some puck luck, too.”

With Hughes still out and third-pairing defenceman Carson Soucy traded Thursday to the Rangers for a third-round draft pick, Vittorio Mancini returns to the Canucks lineup against Minnesota. It will be his second NHL game since arriving from New York in the Miller trade.