Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported last night that the Vancouver Canucks were not willing to accept anything less than a first-round pick at the NHL Trade Deadline for forward Brock Boeser. No other team met the request, and ultimately Vancouver held onto the pending unrestricted free agent and will hold the exclusive rights to negotiate an extension into the summer. Canucks general manager Patrick Allvin came out in his press conference Friday and said that offers for Boeser weren’t good, which likely wasn’t meant as a shot at Boeser’s play but may not have been well received by the 28-year-old.
Vancouver’s asking price for Boeser was fair, given that it was a seller’s market at the deadline and many of the players traded were moved for astronomical prices. A year ago, Boeser would have been a hot commodity on the trade market after he tallied 40 goals and added 33 assists in 81 games.
Like many Canucks players, Boeser is having a down season after posting several career highs a year ago. Boeser has tallied 18 goals and 20 assists this season in 55 games and has a -20 plus/minus. His shooting percentage is almost 3% higher than his career average, which indicates that his drop in production isn’t simply a case of a player cooling off. Boeser’s shot volume has taken a considerable drop this year, as have his possession numbers, which is surprising given that Vancouver have been giving him more favorable deployment this season, starting him in almost 60% of his shifts in the offensive zone.
There is no word yet on whether Vancouver will sign Boeser long term, which will make for an interesting development over the next few months.
Vancouver’s asking price clearly was not fair, since no other team took them up on it. The Canucks made a bet on EP40, and that now looks like a serious mistake. Other than Hughes and maybe Garland, it’s hard to find much reason for optimism. Plus it’s a notoriously fussy market with an owner who usually can’t help himself. Good times!
The deadline is over, Another Irrelevant story coming from attention hound Elliott Friedman.
Maybe the bigger issue is there aren’t alot of contending teams who have any or can afford to give up anymore 1st rounders.
Not worth a 1st as a rental.
However, if Brock had term, I’d be tempted.
The problem for Vancouver here is they didn’t decide to put Brock Boeser up for trade until a few hours before the actual deadline. By then, most teams already made trades that included their 1st round picks or they were in negotiations with other teams on a deal. Now, Vancouver probably won’t get anything for Boeser as he heads to the open market this offseason unless a team jumps the gun in wanting Boeser’s signing rights before he hits the market.