Are you shocked that the Vancouver Canucks didn’t trade Brock Boeser at this year’s trade deadline? As loved as Boeser is in the city, I think everyone thought he was going to be traded, because he should have been. The Canucks and Boeser haven’t agreed to a contract extension, as Boeser is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Boeser reportedly rejected a five-year deal at eight million dollars per season; Boeser is looking for a contract of about eight years. Neither side is going to budge, so it’s looking very unlikely that the Canucks will extend Brock Boeser.
This year’s trade deadline was the ultimate seller’s market. We saw second and third-liners go for first and second-round picks. I’m sure you saw some of the other trades that were happening and thought that the Canucks were going to get a king’s ransom for Boeser. I don’t blame you, but according to general manager Patrick Alvin, that wasn’t the case. Alvin had this to say about the offers he received for Brock Boeser: “If I told you what I was offered for Brock Boeser…you would not believe me.”
Patrik Allvin on the offers the Canucks received for pending UFA, Brock Boeser, at the #NHLTradeDeadline pic.twitter.com/S5wWPRO78l
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 7, 2025
Personally, I don’t know if I buy that, considering players like Jake Walman and Scott Laughton were traded for first-round picks. This could mean Alvin’s asking price was way too high for other teams or that the rest of the teams didn’t value the 40-goal scorer. The asset management by the Canucks was brutal, and it’s not just Boeser. Reportedly, the Canucks aren’t close to a contract with center Pius Suter either, and he wasn’t moved at the deadline either.
The thing that is bothering Canucks fans the most is that we’ve seen poor asset management in the past. Jim Benning did the same thing. I know you don’t want me to remind you, but remember when the Canucks didn’t trade Radim Vrbata and Dan Hamhuis at the 2016 trade deadline? Yeah, me too, and we lost both of them for nothing. Unfortunately, the same thing is probably going to happen with Boeser and Suter. A lot of Canucks fans have lost faith in this management team because the last thing we want to see is Boeser leave for absolutely nothing. The Canucks are in need of a top-six center, and the draft picks or players received back in a trade for Boeser could have helped. But instead, we are hit with déjà vu with a terrible trade deadline.
Unless the Canucks go on a deep playoff run and somehow find a way to re-sign Boeser, this year’s trade deadline might end up haunting the Canucks, just like in years past.