- Si vous êtes Jeff Gorton...
- Sacrifiez-vous un choix de première ronde TOP 3 pour Elias Pettersson?
- Alors que tout le monde pensait que Brock Boeser était celui qui allait être SACRIFIÉ...
- On se demande à Vancouver si c'est Pettersson qui sera SACRIFIÉ...
With Horvat and Miller eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2023, when Elias Pettersson will have only one year remaining on his bridge deal and rookie Vasily Podkolzina a season to go on his entry-level contract, the Canucks won’t be able to keep the whole band of young players together.
Goalie Thatcher Demko, winger Conor Garland and defenceman Hughes are just starting long-term contracts that look like bargains. Interestingly, they’ve also been the three best Canucks this season.
The core player most vulnerable is winger Brock Boeser, who is finishing a three-year bridge deal and slumbered through the first quarter of this season but has exploded under Boudreau. The 24-year-old former Calder runner-up is third in Canucks scoring (74-93-167 in 210 games) since Pettersson arrived at the start of the 2018-19 season.
Boeser is an elite, offensive contributor. But while the $5.875-million salary on his bridge deal has been reasonable, the looming qualifying offer of $7.5-million for the restricted free agent is not. It doesn’t mean Boeser is getting traded, but the Canucks can’t afford that figure as a launch point on a new contract if they want to have enough money left to also sign Horvat and Miller a year later, and Pettersson the season after that. After all, maybe it's the Swedish that will have to be traded...
Something has to give. Or someone has to go.