While the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/statsies-4-nations-face-off-roundup-canadas-finishing-woes-nordic-rivals-inseparable-usas-defensive-clinic">4 Nations Face-off</a> shifts from Montreal to Boston, the Vancouver Canucks turn their attention from beaches and brief holiday breaks to the stretch run of their schedule. The team will practice later this week to get ready for the resumption of its National Hockey League schedule.
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The Canucks have 27 games remaining and will start out of the break with a five-game road trip beginning Saturday in Las Vegas. So, things are about to heat up again in a hurry. Even without game action, Canucks fans still have plenty of questions about this team ahead of the trade line and the post-season. We thank you for another solid week of submissions to the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/">CanucksArmy</a> mailbag. Let&#8217;s see what&#8217;s on your mind:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
What is the status of Thatcher Demko?
&mdash; 8-Arm Idol (@8armidol) <a href="https://twitter.com/8armidol/status/1890509268916293925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Good question to start us off. Roll call at the first practice when the team reconvenes later this week will be interesting. Not only will we be watching for the presence of captain Quinn Hughes but also Thatcher Demko, who was last seen heading down the tunnel 10 minutes into the Canucks 3-1 win over Toronto on February 8th. Word then – as it is now – is that Demko’s injury isn’t believed to be serious and that it isn’t related to the knee issue that kept him out of action for the better part of eight months. But durability and availability are both concerns now with Demko. The Canucks start out of the 4 Nations break with a pair of back-to-backs on the road. You’d have to think the plan is to split those starts, which means the Canucks need two healthy goalies ready for game action at the end of this week. Will it be Demko and Kevin Lankinen? Or will Arturs Silovs once again be thrust into significant starts for the NHL Canucks? If Lankinen leads Finland to the final of the 4 Nations on Thursday, will he be ready to go again on Saturday in Vegas? Or is that designated as a Demko/Silovs start? Updates on player health have been virtually non-existent during this break. So we should get answers to some significant questions for the Canucks possibly on Tuesday, but certainly by Wednesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Is Chytil the answer at 2c?
&mdash; Richie Abercrombie (@RichieAbercromb) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichieAbercromb/status/1890658814816293207?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Canucks hope he can be. But for a guy who has never had more than 45 points in an NHL season, that may be too big an ask. However, the Canucks like the early returns and want to see what the 25-year-old speedster can do with added ice time and opportunity here. In four games, he has a goal and two assists, shares the team lead with 10 shots on goal and is an impressive 57.1% in the face-off circle. So there are some positive signs, albeit in a ridiculously small sample size. Still, on a true contender, the Canucks need their top centre to play like an elite centre, and they’d probably like to build out with another piece ahead of Chytil down the middle. The other part of the equation is to see how Chytil performs in the playoffs. He has 13 points in 36 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, but nine of them came in the 2022 playoffs. He has four points in three other trips to the post-season. So, like many young players in the league, his playoff body of work remains a work in progress.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
I&#39;m really curious how the top 6 looks after the trade deadline. How do you think it&#39;ll look? Will they keep or trade Boeser? Will they bring in another top 6 forward?
&mdash; Fergus Doyle (@DoyleFergu44485) <a href="https://twitter.com/DoyleFergu44485/status/1890493003753496700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
If management doesn’t come to terms with Boeser, what return are the Canucks looking for? What teams are interested?
&mdash; Michael (@MJohnRadcliffe) <a href="https://twitter.com/MJohnRadcliffe/status/1890471156429271349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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So two questions about <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/weighing-vancouver-canucks-4-main-options-with-brock-boeser">Brock Boeser</a>. Let’s lump them together and tackle them at the same time. With six games left ‘til the deadline, time very well may be winding down here for Boeser. If that’s the case, he has been a model Canuck – more than 500 games in a Vancouver uniform, a 40-goal season, an impressive playoff performance and one of the good guys to ever play for the franchise. But if management wanted to keep him long-term, you figure that contract would have been signed long ago. So if not here, then where?
What playoff-bound team wouldn’t want a proven goal scorer who showed another gear in two rounds of the post-season last spring? Right now, Los Angeles and Ottawa are the lowest-scoring teams above the playoff bar. Could they use a Boeser bump? How about Boston or the New York Islanders in the East or Utah in the West, among teams below the bar looking to get into the playoffs? Of course, Boeser will always be linked to Minnesota and maybe the Wild feel the need to add scoring to keep up with the other top teams in the West. It’s all speculation. As for the return, I’m sure the Canucks look at the going rate for top-end rental pieces. They just surrendered a first-rounder and other parts in the Pittsburgh deal. A year ago, they moved a bunch of pieces to Calgary to ultimately rent Elias Lindholm. The standard high pick, a roster player, and a prospect package is the likely asking point, and then it’s a question of negotiating those to completion of a deal.
If Boeser is moved, the Canucks could spend some of the assets gained on a player with a term they feel is a better fit, or it could be a volume play to bring in two pieces ahead of the deadline. Of course, the team also has <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/farmies-jonathan-lekkerimaki-scores-gorgeous-goal-abby-canucks-defeat-colorado-4-1-home-ice">Jonathan Lekkerimäki</a> waiting for another shot in Abbotsford, but that’s a lot to ask of a 20-year-old to step in and step up to replace a player as accomplished as Boeser right away.
My hunch is they deal Boeser rather than risk losing him as a free agent in the summer and reinvest some of the haul to help this year and beyond. As for what the top six will look like, it’s impossible to say without knowing what pieces they have after the deadline. But it just doesn’t feel like this management group is finished tinkering with this season’s roster.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Please tell me you have heard that Canucks are looking to add more grit and overall toughness!?
&mdash; Chris (@chris_jordan213) <a href="https://twitter.com/chris_jordan213/status/1890482327806972076?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Only about a thousand times in the comments section on this site and on all of my social feeds. But I see and hear a lot of other things in those places, too. As for hearing it from the team, they keep their cards pretty close to the vest. Especially less than a month from the March 7th trade deadline. But knowing the way Rick Tocchet likes his team to play, I imagine it’s a quality he’s always looking to add to the mix. The Canucks certainly have size on the backend, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to any sort of intimidation factor. And with the trade of JT Miller, they definitely moved one of their most rambunctious forwards. Kiefer Sherwood brings the heat every night, and Dakota Joshua has size, but it would be nice to see a little more snarl in his game. Beyond that, though, the Canucks don’t have many brutes in the lineup. Conor Garland and Nils Höglander can be pains to play against, but obviously, neither is the biggest player in the league. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the team add a winger with some edge to his game if the price is right. But I don’t see them making a significant splash to chase toughness that can’t play – or plays a limited role. That doesn’t feel like the way this front office is trying to build out its roster.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
how much weight should we place on EP40&#39;s performance at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/4Nations?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#4Nations</a> (good or bad) in assessing his performance leading up to the trade deadline this year?
&mdash; Warren Smith (@mtgwarren) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtgwarren/status/1890489948236587024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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I was always leery that a short-form tournament was somehow going to carry magical powers that transformed Elias Pettersson’s game. And through two contests in Montreal, that version of EP40 has looked a lot like the one that has struggled to produce 34 points in 49 games for the Vancouver Canucks. So I’m not attaching much value to his 4 Nations performance. It was nice to see him smiling and seemingly enjoying himself at the first Swedish practice. Smiles – along with flashes of superstardom – have been in short supply this season. But it seemed like a stretch to think that joining his countrymen for three games mid-season would suddenly bring back his skating burst and his shot velocity. Those remain the biggest issues for Pettersson and the harsh reality is they may not get the attention they need until the off-season. That certainly complicates things for the Canucks down the stretch and until his trade protection kicks in on July 1st. I don’t think he’s going anywhere before the trade deadline, but I also don’t expect to see a markedly different on-ice performance after it, either. Pettersson hasn&#8217;t been great for Sweden, but with overtime losses in each of the first two tournament games, there are many Swedes who haven&#8217;t been good enough. He is by no means the only one.
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:xnwbn2q3divajgzjwjwf4ww6/app.bsky.feed.post/3li5qknio3k2v" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreicxzoqsbnzdpy4szcep33xp4lkjbrvofayzqzjzqlje72p2s2trcq">
Why do the Canucks love making trades on Fridays?
&mdash; <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xnwbn2q3divajgzjwjwf4ww6?ref_src=embed">Jordan Spinks (@jordanspinks42.bsky.social)</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xnwbn2q3divajgzjwjwf4ww6/post/3li5qknio3k2v?ref_src=embed">2025-02-14T17:37:33.945Z</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Well, first of all, research shows that Friday is one of the seven most popular days of the week for NHL general managers to make trades. Maybe there is a sense of accomplishment finishing off the work week by picking up the phone and making something happen. Beyond that, it’s probably a coincidence more than anything. But yes, they peddled Mark Friedman to Nashville in a minor move on Friday, February 7th, and, of course, prior to that, engaged in all sorts of trade activity on Friday, January 31st. Now, there was a short stint there where Patrik Allvin seemed to do some of his biggest business on the Fridays leading into long weekends (JT Miller’s contract extension, for example, happened on the Friday of the Labour Day weekend in 2022). But that almost always involved player signings, not trades. Prior to the Miller deal to the New York Rangers for <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/tape-shift-by-shift-breakdown-filip-chytils-impressive-vancouver-canucks-debut">Filip Chytil</a> and the acquisitions of <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/canucks-acquire-marcus-pettersson-drew-oconnor-from-penguins-for-heinen-desharnais-draft-pick">Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor</a>, the team’s most recent trade was the Tucker Poolman contract to Colorado for Erik Brännstrom and that went down on a Sunday. While the Canucks did ship Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty to Chicago on a Friday, that was the first day of last year’s draft and the draft floor is always a fertile trading environment. So, I feel like the draft weekend should be its own trade window. But the Canucks made the Elias Lindholm deal ahead of last year’s All-Star break on a Wednesday and, prior to that, landed Nikita Zadorov on a Thursday. I suppose there is a one-in-seven chance trades will happen on a Friday. But I think most times deals simply happen when both sides are willing to pull the trigger rather than worrying about how the calendar figures into things. Although maybe this is all a precursor to what’s in store with this year’s trade deadline falling on – wait for it – Friday, March 7th.
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While the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/statsies-4-nations-face-off-roundup-canadas-finishing-woes-nordic-rivals-inseparable-usas-defensive-clinic">4 Nations Face-off</a> shifts from Montreal to Boston, the Vancouver Canucks turn their attention from beaches and brief holiday breaks to the stretch run of their schedule. The team will practice later this week to get ready for the resumption of its National Hockey League schedule.
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The Canucks have 27 games remaining and will start out of the break with a five-game road trip beginning Saturday in Las Vegas. So, things are about to heat up again in a hurry. Even without game action, Canucks fans still have plenty of questions about this team ahead of the trade line and the post-season. We thank you for another solid week of submissions to the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/">CanucksArmy</a> mailbag. Let's see what's on your mind:

https://twitter.com/8armidol/status/1890509268916293925

Good question to start us off. Roll call at the first practice when the team reconvenes later this week will be interesting. Not only will we be watching for the presence of captain Quinn Hughes but also Thatcher Demko, who was last seen heading down the tunnel 10 minutes into the Canucks 3-1 win over Toronto on February 8th. Word then – as it is now – is that Demko’s injury isn’t believed to be serious and that it isn’t related to the knee issue that kept him out of action for the better part of eight months. But durability and availability are both concerns now with Demko. The Canucks start out of the 4 Nations break with a pair of back-to-backs on the road. You’d have to think the plan is to split those starts, which means the Canucks need two healthy goalies ready for game action at the end of this week. Will it be Demko and Kevin Lankinen? Or will Arturs Silovs once again be thrust into significant starts for the NHL Canucks? If Lankinen leads Finland to the final of the 4 Nations on Thursday, will he be ready to go again on Saturday in Vegas? Or is that designated as a Demko/Silovs start? Updates on player health have been virtually non-existent during this break. So we should get answers to some significant questions for the Canucks possibly on Tuesday, but certainly by Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/RichieAbercromb/status/1890658814816293207

The Canucks hope he can be. But for a guy who has never had more than 45 points in an NHL season, that may be too big an ask. However, the Canucks like the early returns and want to see what the 25-year-old speedster can do with added ice time and opportunity here. In four games, he has a goal and two assists, shares the team lead with 10 shots on goal and is an impressive 57.1% in the face-off circle. So there are some positive signs, albeit in a ridiculously small sample size. Still, on a true contender, the Canucks need their top centre to play like an elite centre, and they’d probably like to build out with another piece ahead of Chytil down the middle. The other part of the equation is to see how Chytil performs in the playoffs. He has 13 points in 36 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, but nine of them came in the 2022 playoffs. He has four points in three other trips to the post-season. So, like many young players in the league, his playoff body of work remains a work in progress.

https://twitter.com/DoyleFergu44485/status/1890493003753496700

https://twitter.com/MJohnRadcliffe/status/1890471156429271349

So two questions about <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/weighing-vancouver-canucks-4-main-options-with-brock-boeser">Brock Boeser</a>. Let’s lump them together and tackle them at the same time. With six games left ‘til the deadline, time very well may be winding down here for Boeser. If that’s the case, he has been a model Canuck – more than 500 games in a Vancouver uniform, a 40-goal season, an impressive playoff performance and one of the good guys to ever play for the franchise. But if management wanted to keep him long-term, you figure that contract would have been signed long ago. So if not here, then where?

What playoff-bound team wouldn’t want a proven goal scorer who showed another gear in two rounds of the post-season last spring? Right now, Los Angeles and Ottawa are the lowest-scoring teams above the playoff bar. Could they use a Boeser bump? How about Boston or the New York Islanders in the East or Utah in the West, among teams below the bar looking to get into the playoffs? Of course, Boeser will always be linked to Minnesota and maybe the Wild feel the need to add scoring to keep up with the other top teams in the West. It’s all speculation. As for the return, I’m sure the Canucks look at the going rate for top-end rental pieces. They just surrendered a first-rounder and other parts in the Pittsburgh deal. A year ago, they moved a bunch of pieces to Calgary to ultimately rent Elias Lindholm. The standard high pick, a roster player, and a prospect package is the likely asking point, and then it’s a question of negotiating those to completion of a deal.

If Boeser is moved, the Canucks could spend some of the assets gained on a player with a term they feel is a better fit, or it could be a volume play to bring in two pieces ahead of the deadline. Of course, the team also has <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/farmies-jonathan-lekkerimaki-scores-gorgeous-goal-abby-canucks-defeat-colorado-4-1-home-ice">Jonathan Lekkerimäki</a> waiting for another shot in Abbotsford, but that’s a lot to ask of a 20-year-old to step in and step up to replace a player as accomplished as Boeser right away.

My hunch is they deal Boeser rather than risk losing him as a free agent in the summer and reinvest some of the haul to help this year and beyond. As for what the top six will look like, it’s impossible to say without knowing what pieces they have after the deadline. But it just doesn’t feel like this management group is finished tinkering with this season’s roster.

https://twitter.com/chris_jordan213/status/1890482327806972076

Only about a thousand times in the comments section on this site and on all of my social feeds. But I see and hear a lot of other things in those places, too. As for hearing it from the team, they keep their cards pretty close to the vest. Especially less than a month from the March 7th trade deadline. But knowing the way Rick Tocchet likes his team to play, I imagine it’s a quality he’s always looking to add to the mix. The Canucks certainly have size on the backend, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to any sort of intimidation factor. And with the trade of JT Miller, they definitely moved one of their most rambunctious forwards. Kiefer Sherwood brings the heat every night, and Dakota Joshua has size, but it would be nice to see a little more snarl in his game. Beyond that, though, the Canucks don’t have many brutes in the lineup. Conor Garland and Nils Höglander can be pains to play against, but obviously, neither is the biggest player in the league. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the team add a winger with some edge to his game if the price is right. But I don’t see them making a significant splash to chase toughness that can’t play – or plays a limited role. That doesn’t feel like the way this front office is trying to build out its roster.

https://twitter.com/mtgwarren/status/1890489948236587024

I was always leery that a short-form tournament was somehow going to carry magical powers that transformed Elias Pettersson’s game. And through two contests in Montreal, that version of EP40 has looked a lot like the one that has struggled to produce 34 points in 49 games for the Vancouver Canucks. So I’m not attaching much value to his 4 Nations performance. It was nice to see him smiling and seemingly enjoying himself at the first Swedish practice. Smiles – along with flashes of superstardom – have been in short supply this season. But it seemed like a stretch to think that joining his countrymen for three games mid-season would suddenly bring back his skating burst and his shot velocity. Those remain the biggest issues for Pettersson and the harsh reality is they may not get the attention they need until the off-season. That certainly complicates things for the Canucks down the stretch and until his trade protection kicks in on July 1st. I don’t think he’s going anywhere before the trade deadline, but I also don’t expect to see a markedly different on-ice performance after it, either. Pettersson hasn't been great for Sweden, but with overtime losses in each of the first two tournament games, there are many Swedes who haven't been good enough. He is by no means the only one.

https://bsky.app/profile/jordanspinks42.bsky.social/post/3li5qknio3k2v

Well, first of all, research shows that Friday is one of the seven most popular days of the week for NHL general managers to make trades. Maybe there is a sense of accomplishment finishing off the work week by picking up the phone and making something happen. Beyond that, it’s probably a coincidence more than anything. But yes, they peddled Mark Friedman to Nashville in a minor move on Friday, February 7th, and, of course, prior to that, engaged in all sorts of trade activity on Friday, January 31st. Now, there was a short stint there where Patrik Allvin seemed to do some of his biggest business on the Fridays leading into long weekends (JT Miller’s contract extension, for example, happened on the Friday of the Labour Day weekend in 2022). But that almost always involved player signings, not trades. Prior to the Miller deal to the New York Rangers for <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/tape-shift-by-shift-breakdown-filip-chytils-impressive-vancouver-canucks-debut">Filip Chytil</a> and the acquisitions of <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/canucks-acquire-marcus-pettersson-drew-oconnor-from-penguins-for-heinen-desharnais-draft-pick">Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor</a>, the team’s most recent trade was the Tucker Poolman contract to Colorado for Erik Brännstrom and that went down on a Sunday. While the Canucks did ship Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty to Chicago on a Friday, that was the first day of last year’s draft and the draft floor is always a fertile trading environment. So, I feel like the draft weekend should be its own trade window. But the Canucks made the Elias Lindholm deal ahead of last year’s All-Star break on a Wednesday and, prior to that, landed Nikita Zadorov on a Thursday. I suppose there is a one-in-seven chance trades will happen on a Friday. But I think most times deals simply happen when both sides are willing to pull the trigger rather than worrying about how the calendar figures into things. Although maybe this is all a precursor to what’s in store with this year’s trade deadline falling on – wait for it – Friday, March 7th.

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JPat’s Monday Canucks Mailbag: Will they keep or trade Brock Boeser?

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