The Vancouver Canucks are planning the next steps of their 2023 offseason. According to insider Frank Seravalli, it starts with the Canucks looking to move a sizeable contract as they attempt to navigate around their impending cap crunch. J.T. Miller’s contract extension set to take effect on July 1 and so this is an urgent matter in Vancouver.
Seravalli explained on Tuesday’s edition of Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satiar Shah that forward Conor Garland, whose $4.95 million cap hit runs through the 2025–26 season, has been aggressively pushed on the trade block.
But it’s not as easy as GM Patrik Allvin had anticipated, per Seravalli:
“The Canucks have actually somewhat aggressively been in talks with some teams to at least understand the prices of what it would cost to unload a contract or two. I think a lot of the focus has actually been on Conor Garland, in specific. But I also think Patrik Allvin, in the conversations that I’ve heard of, has been very open-minded in … ‘let me understand what all the prices are first before I make a decision on exactly it’s gonna be.’ So, they have engaged in talks and it’s certainly something that’s on everyone’s radar. My understanding was, to this point, that the Canucks have found the prices to be very high.”
To make things worse, the Canucks have very little leverage in their negotiations involving Garland or any other high-priced players, meaning that they probably would have to part with high draft picks in any deal involving big cap hits leaving Vancouver.
“Everyone can see it and knows it,” Seravalli said. “They know [the Canucks] are backed up against the cap, and the ask is high.”
This might mean that the Canucks will have to be more aggressive - if that’s even possible.
