In the midst of a season-high losing streak, the Vancouver Canucks are prepared to let go of another key player — and are using some reinforcements to move the process along.
The Canucks are working with pending free agent Kiefer Sherwood's agent to help facilitate a trade, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on the Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Day in Canada.
"One of the things that happened with the Quinn Hughes deal was that the Canucks allowed the agent to work with them to get that trade done, and that's absolutely one of the reasons it got done as quick as it did," Friedman said. "The same thing is now happening for Sherwood. He's a good player, he's having a great year and proving he's not a fluke."
Sherwood, 30, is a pending unrestricted free agent in the final year of a two-year, $3 million deal he signed in July 2024. Since then, he's proven to be one of the Canucks' best all-around forwards, recording career-highs across the board in his first season in Vancouver (19 goals, 21 assists in 78 games).
But with the Canucks in the beginnings of a rebuild, triggered by the trade of franchise defenceman and captain Hughes in December, Sherwood has become a valuable trade piece for teams looking to contend this year.
"I just think that right now, there are a bunch of teams in there and a couple people say, they called it poker," Friedman added. "Everyone's just sitting there right now. There's definitely interest; it comes to a question of when someone decides to step forward."
Sherwood has been absent from the lineup the past three games with an injury, though Friedman notes that it's not a concern for the Canucks or prospective trade partners.
The Columbus, Ohio, native has 17 goals and 23 points in 44 games this season.
