The Vancouver Canucks are a very injured team and every day that is hurting their chances of winning and making the playoffs. In the midst of that struggle, they have been active on the trade front, already acquiring Lukas Reichel. But the team doesn’t appear to be done there.
The Canucks have their eyes on Oskar Sundqvist from the St. Louis Blues. It looks like a good time to get in contact with the Blues as they are struggling even more than the Canucks and have pieces to spare.
Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects spoke about the Canucks’ center search on Sekeres & Price, saying, “One player that did get mentioned to me a couple of times is Oskar Sundqvist in St. Louis.”
Canucks’ Incentive to Keep Adding
The Canucks are filled with players who don’t generally stay too healthy, but this season has been especially bad all at once. Quinn Hughes, Conor Garland, Filip Chytil, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Teddy Blueger, Nils Hoglander, Derek Forbort, and Victor Mancini are all sidelined, while even Brock Boeser missed a couple of games a short time ago. Going back to last season, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, Evander Kane, and Logan O’Connor aren’t the best examples of regularly healthy players either.
Sundqvist is a solid piece to have, especially given how he’s started the season. In just six games, the veteran has five assists and is playing 14:30 per game. He will log time on both the power play and penalty kill, more than what can be said for the bottom-6 players currently in the Canucks’ lineup.
The bottom-6 isn’t good, but that’s to be expected when there are this many injuries to a team. They have managed a little better than most would in comparison, but are still 6-7-0 on the season and in desperate times.
Three of the players in the bottom-6 have fewer than 60 NHL games played, and another only has 150. Someone like Sundqvist is a former Stanley Cup winner and has been around a long time, able to play center or the wing. There are no guarantees for this team to get close to being healthy all at once this season and it is a season that has to be salvaged.
Blues’ Reason to Sell Pieces Soon
The Blues are 3-7-2, second last in the league with the most goals against and not too many goals scored. There is a more serious injury to Jake Neighbours, while Robert Thomas should be back in action any day now. The Blues have plenty of young talent that are itching to get into action in the NHL as well.
With that being said, Cam Robinson also added, “I had one source indicate that it shouldn’t cost more than a 2nd round pick, maybe even get him for a 3rd if the Blues are convinced they’re going to lose him.”
If the Blues can get a draft pick that high for a bottom-6 who could walk in free agency, it is better than what other teams are getting for young players with higher ceilings under team control.
This could be seen as a down season, a bad start, or just the right push the Blues need to change some pieces around. It isn’t the time to blow the roster up, but moving out a trade chip like Sundqvist would be the right move and a good start.
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