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[Vancouver Canucks]

5 Canucks whose trade protection changes as of July 1, 2025

The date of July 1 is typically a very important one on the NHL calendar, and one especially important for the Vancouver Canucks. It’s Canada Day, of course. More hockey-specifically, it’s also the opening day of the Free Agent Frenzy, when expiring UFA contracts formally expire and new ones are signed – usually at a very expensive rate.

But something also happens on July 1 each year that doesn’t get as much attention, and that’s the official transition from the previous contractual season to the next one. For all those contracts that don’t expire this offseason, July 1, 2025, will mark the point at which they switch over from the 2024/25 season to the 2025/26 season.

This could mean a change in salary, in bonus structure, or – as you’ve probably guessed from the content of the headline – in trade protection clauses.

Now, one trade-protection-related change has drawn a lot of attention already, and we’ll be covering that one first. But Elias Pettersson Sr. is not the only Canuck who will be gaining a protective clause as of July 1, 2025. So, too, will four others.

Definitions: A no-movement clause, or NMC, prevents a player from being traded, waived, or assigned to the minors without the player’s approval. A no-trade clause, or NTC, only prevents a player from being traded without their approval (meaning they can still be waived and/or reassigned). Some NTCs only grant a player a list of a certain amount of teams that they can block a trade to, and those are listed as an ‘X-team NTC.’

Elias Pettersson​

Pettersson gains a full no-movement clause for the remaining seven seasons of his latest contract. The reason he’s getting it now, and not in the first year of this extension, is his age – only seasons in which a player would have reached UFA status are eligible to include protective clauses.

This is the one we alluded to in the intro, because it’s received by far the most attention in the media and fanbase. The general thrust of that discussion has been a notion that, if the Canucks were to trade Pettersson, they’d want to do so before the NMC kicked in, so as to keep their full array of options open. There’s also a touch of ‘now-or-never’ to it, as once the NMC is in effect, it remains so until the year 2032.

Most times, it’s considered a bit unethical to sign someone to an extension and then trade them right before their trade protection takes effect. However, one could also argue that Pettersson’s situation is unique, given how he has performed since signing the extension.

In any case, for our money, a Pettersson trade is still highly unlikely, and the odds are best that he’ll remain with the Canucks past July 1 and the start of this clause.

Drew O’Connor​

Sticking with the forward corps for now, O’Connor begins the two-year extension he signed not terribly long after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins as a pending UFA. O’Connor had no form of protective clause on his previous deal, but he gains a 12-team no-trade clause with this new contract for both of its seasons.

As you’ll see later on in the article, the ’12-team NTC’ seems to be the ‘C-tier’ trade protection package that the Canucks prefer, with the scale sliding from NMC to 15-team NTC to 12-team NTC. It’s not a particularly restrictive clause, but it does give O’Connor a little extra security, something that was no doubt valuable for him after switching addresses and being asked to commit to his new home so quickly.

From a team perspective, some might be lightly chagrined at the idea of a clear-cut bottom-sixer receiving trade protection of any sort, but that was a standard the Canucks set themselves with a couple of their previous contracts. In the end, they were probably able to save a few bucks in salary in exchange for this clause, and made the calculation that it’d ultimately be worth it. Two years ain’t that long, after all.

Filip Hronek​

Pettersson is getting all the headlines, but he’s not the only Canuck to go from no protection to full protection on July 1. Hronek, too, gains a full NMC in year two of his ongoing extension. Unlike Pettersson, however, Hronek’s NMC only runs for three seasons, then switches to a 15-team NTC in the summer of 2028 for the final four seasons of the contract.

There has been some chatter about this, and it’s similar to the Pettersson chatter – meaning, if the Canucks were going to trade Hronek, they’d be wisest to do for before the NMC kicks in, not after. But with Tom Willander and Victor Mancini still such unknown qualities, we don’t think that’s particularly likely, either.

Keeping him longer won’t impact the market for a top-pairing RD in his prime. It will just, naturally, affect the market of teams Hronek is willing to go to.

Marcus Pettersson​

Heck, Pettersson isn’t even the only Pettersson to be gaining a NMC this summer. Marcus Pettersson gets one, too, though his story is a little more complicated. Pettersson had an eight-team NTC on his previous contract, signed with the Penguins. That means that, when the Canucks traded for him, they either weren’t one of the eight teams on his no-trade list, or he specifically chose to waive it for them.

Either way, shortly after being acquired by Vancouver, Pettersson signed a six-year extension. The first three years of that deal, which begins on July 1, 2025, contain a full NMC. As of 2028, that switches to a 15-team NTC, which we’re quickly learning is the Canucks’ ‘B-tier’ trade protection package.

With Pettersson having just arrived and been extended, he wasn’t going anywhere, anyway.

Kevin Lankinen​

The lack of trade protection on Thatcher Demko’s contract has received plenty of attention this offseason. But the Canucks’ crease will not be entirely devoid of clauses after July 1. Lankinen signed a five-year extension mid-season, and that extension begins with a full NMC for two seasons, before switching to the standard 15-team NTC in 2027 for the next and final three seasons of the contract.

For the most immediate future, this might just be the most impactful clause-change for the Canucks. Lankinen is coming off a cheap, one-year, prove-it contract. And prove it, he did. For the Canucks to give Lankinen a new contract extension with trade protection off the back of that performance, only to turn around and trade him before that trade protection kicked in, would be considered dirty pool, and is something best avoided. Not that a Lankinen trade was particularly likely in the first place.

Who Already Had One?​

There are few enough players with existing trade protection on the Canucks roster that we might as well just mention them briefly here.

Jake DeBrusk has a NMC in the first three seasons of his current contract, and a 15-team NTC for the remaining four. He’s about to begin the second year of the deal.

Dakota Joshua has a 12-team NTC in all four seasons of his current contract. He is about to begin the second year of the deal.

Teddy Blueger has a 12-team NTC in both seasons of his current contract and is about to begin the second and final year of the deal.

Tyler Myers has a full NMC in the first two seasons of his current contract, then a 12-team NTC in the third and final season. He is about to begin the second year of the deal.

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/5-vancouver-canucks-whose-trade-protection-changes-july-1-2025

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

A difficult season for Canucks Dakota Joshua on and off the ice: 2024-25 Year in Review

Without question, the 2024-25 National Hockey League season was a challenging one for Vancouver Canuck forward Dakota Joshua.

It started with a testicular cancer diagnosis on the eve of training camp in September and, understandably, that put hockey in perspective for the big winger who battled valiantly to rejoin his team in mid-November. On many levels, the fact that Joshua was able to resume his NHL career so quickly after the life-changing medical scare was a victory in itself. However, anyone who had watched the 29-year-old score 18 goals the previous season and four more in two rounds of playoff hockey knew Joshua wasn’t close to the best version of himself when he returned to game action.

With no training camp, preseason or first month of games that counted, Joshua was playing catch-up from the outset. And, looking back now, it’s clear he never really caught up.

If anyone deserves some grace for a subpar season, it’s the personable Joshua, who just never seemed to fully harness his natural tools of speed and size and use them to his advantage. He made his season debut on November 10th against the New York Islanders, but didn’t score his first goal until December 10th against St. Louis. And he managed to put just one puck in the net through the end of January.

Part of the issue was a mid-season leg injury suffered when he collided awkwardly with Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi in a January 3rd game at Rogers Arena. While the offence still wasn’t flowing for Joshua, he was rediscovering the physical side of his game when his season was interrupted and he was forced to miss 11 games. He returned for six, and then the season was halted for the 4 Nations Face-Off. That kind of summed up the 2024-25 campaign for Joshua. It was a series of stops and starts, and never allowed him to get into any kind of groove.

The bottom line through all the adversity was just seven goals and seven assists in 57 games. In 600 minutes at 5-on-5, the Canucks controlled 45.5% of all shot attempts and were outscored 27-18 with Joshua on the ice. This was the first year of a four-year contract that paid the Dearborn, Michigan native $3.25M per season. Based solely on money paid versus production, the Canucks did not extract value from Joshua’s new deal. Again, the reasons for that were obvious from the start.

If there were bright spots to Joshua’s season, they came later in the year. He stayed healthy and played in the team’s final 33 games of the season, with five of his goals and 10 of his points coming during that stretch. Joshua finished the year on a line with Aatu Räty and Kiefer Sherwood that showed both promise and production and perhaps provided a glimpse at a legitimate third line for next season.

And while he wasn’t a sharp as he wanted to be and despite missing 25 games, Joshua still managed to finish second on the hockey club in hits with 193. It was nowhere close to Sherwood’s league-leading total of 493, but it was still 89 more than Teddy Blueger, who was third on the list.

For pushing through a trying set of circumstances all season, Joshua was recognized by the Vancouver chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and was named the Canucks nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy. The award is presented annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the game. Dakota Joshua demonstrated all of those traits by remaining positive while life dealt him a difficult hand.

He is a much better player than he showed in 2024-25. For obvious reasons, no one should hold his counting statistics against him. The hope is that with a clean bill of health and a full summer to train, the real Dakota Joshua will arrive at training camp looking to assert himself once again. Whether he wants one or not, he gets a pass for this past season. But with a new head coach in place – albeit one familiar with what he can offer – Joshua will have to re-establish himself and get his career moving in the right direction again.

Oh, and on a much lighter note, Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland did a nice job of working the drive-thru at a local Tim Horton’s.

It's a @TimHortons drive-through takeover!

Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland learn what it takes to work the drive-through to celebrate Tim Hortons 10th Edition Trading Cards!

Collect #Canucks player cards today and complete your set at an upcoming Trade Night in your… pic.twitter.com/r0tAogWrV3

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 7, 2024

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/diffic...-dakota-joshua-on-off-ice-2024-25-year-review

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

On flawed players, Marco Rossi, and the Canucks’ big offseason

So the Vancouver Canucks are “very interested” in trading for Minnesota Wild forward Marco Rossi. That, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, one of the most plugged-in beat reporters in the business.

I’ll come clean right off the hop. As soon as the idea of the Canucks trading for Rossi was brought up about a month ago — the Canucks need a top six centre, and the Wild made it clear they’re willing to part ways with Rossi — my first reaction was a negative one.

At 5’9, a 1-2 punch down the middle of Rossi and Elias Pettersson isn’t striking fear into any opponent. Rossi’s size is believed to be one of the core reasons that Wild GM Bill Guerin is open to dealing him in the first place. And of course, Rossi is an RFA, and is reportedly looking for a big pay day — another thing believed to be driving Minnesota away.

Which is what got me thinking a little bit harder about the Canucks’ big offseason ahead. More specifically, it made me come to the conclusion that the exercise the Canucks really have to go through this summer is looking at a pile of partially flawed players and choosing the ones that carry the least amount of risk but highest amount of upside.

Essentially that, if a player is reportedly available via trade, there’s likely a reason. Perfect players don’t typically hit the trade market in the offseason. Now, sometimes you get cases of players refusing to sign with a team and the team wanting to get some value back for the player they know they’re going to lose anyway.

An example: JJ Peterka out of Buffalo. The 23-year-old Peterka is likely the least flawed player currently on the NHL trade block, but as a result, he’s also probably going to cost the most to acquire.

But in cases like Rossi’s, there are clear as day reasons why his current team is open to moving him, and thus, equally clear as day reasons why an acquiring team would pause and think about it before pulling the trigger on a trade. It’s not just Rossi, either. For most of the other names out there in trade rumours, this is the case. For example, we talked about Jonathan Marchessault last week. The obvious negative there is his age and term remaining on his contract. But as we argued in that piece, as a buy-low candidate and a potential replacement for Brock Boeser at $5.5 million, the Canucks at least have to explore it.

Just like they have to explore the chance to acquire a 23-year-old centre who potted 20+ goals the past two seasons (21 in 2023-24 and 24 in 2024-25) and hit 60 points this past year. Yes, we’re back to talking about Marco Rossi.

We’ve already written a full trade targets piece on Rossi, so if you don’t know much about the player, go ahead and read that, because we’re not going to rehash all that here.

The Canucks’ big offseason

To have the kind of offseason the Canucks hope to have — one that sees them back to being a fringe Stanley Cup contender like they were in 2023-24 instead of just a hit or miss wild card team — they’re going to need a lot of things to go right. And yes, as Jim Rutherford said at his end of season media availability, they’re going to need some luck.

And to get lucky, you’ve got to take some swings, and you’ve got to play the game.

A big offseason for the Canucks? That might look like taking a swing on a slightly flawed player in Rossi who might have 80+ point upside. Plus adding another top six player with a different flaw or too. And then another one. And maybe even another one.

This is all to say that before you say “No! Don’t trade for this player!”, understand that to have the offseason they hope to have, the Canucks are going to need to get more than just one player.

And chances are, at least one of those players is going to have some pretty noticeable flaws.

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/flawed-players-marco-rossi-vancouver-canucks-big-offseason

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Canucks: What is Thatcher Demko’s maximum trade value this offseason?

There once was a time when the Vancouver Canucks seemed to be forever on the hunt for a quality goaltender. Most refer to those as the ‘Dan Cloutier Days.’ But ever since then, the issue has almost always been that of too many quality goaltenders, and that may be the case yet again as of the 2025 offseason.

We wrote about this recently. In short, the situation is this: the Canucks need to either be prepared to carry all three of Thatcher Demko, Kevin Lankinen, and Arturs Silovs on their roster next season, or be prepared to make a difficult decision on one of them this summer.

Lankinen was, of course, just extended on a five year, $4.5 million AAV contract that includes a full no-movement clause in the first two years. He’s not going anywhere.

Silovs, meanwhile, has brought the Abbotsford Canucks to the Calder Cup Finals with an MVP-worthy performance, solidifying himself as a summer month specialist. More relevant to this discussion, however, is the fact that Silovs will run out of waiver exemption time as of July 1, 2025. That means that he’s either playing in the NHL next season or being exposed to waivers, where he could be snatched up by another team.

Which brings us to Demko, the goaltender that seems by far the most likely to be traded. Demko is entering the last year of a $5 million AAV contract that, notably, contains no trade protection clauses of any kind.

And if Demko is going to be dealt, the obvious question left to ask is that of who might want to trade for him, and what they might be willing to give up in return.

The Player

Demko’s most recent season doesn’t exactly make him look like a prize catch. He missed massive swaths of the 2024/25 season with various injuries, including an ongoing ailment to his popliteus muscle that will reportedly never fully rebound.

In the end, Demko played just 23 games for the Canucks last season, with a record of 10-8-3, a goals-against-average of 2.90, and a save percentage of .889. Pick a statistical category, any category, and you’re likely to find among the worst results in Demko’s eight-year NHL career.

But with all that being said, Demko is just one year removed from a Vezina-nominated performance in 2023/24, in which he had a record of 35-14-2, a GAA of 2.45, and a save percentage of .918. Even better, that year’s Demko achieved some 22 goals-saved-above-expected, according to MoneyPuck, the best such result of any goalie in the league that year save for Vezina-winner Connor Hellebuyck.

Where exactly Demko’s value lies as a player depends on which version of Demko one believes he’ll be closest to when he returns to play in 2025/26. But NHL GMS do have a reputation of having long memories that are occasionally slow to update, so we’d bet on at least a few of them being able to convince themselves he’s still the Demko of a year ago – whether that’s actually true or not.

The Market

Nothing speaks more strongly to Demko’s current value than the state of the goaltending market around him.

If we were to take a casual swing at which teams might be looking for a new or upgraded starting goalie this offseason, we’d wind up with a list that includes the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Utah Mammoth. Other teams could enter that picture if they can manage to shift a current goalie to one of the teams looking, but that’s already a third of the league on the lookout.

And what does that third of the league have to choose from? Not much, as it turns out.

The list of top UFA goalies includes Jake Allen, Ville Husso, Vitek Vanecek, Alexandar Georgiev, Dan Vladar, Ilya Samsonov, and Anton Forsberg.

It’s arguable that there’s not a genuine starting goaltender in the bunch. It’s borderline inarguable that Demko wouldn’t represent a significantly better option for any team with any hope of competing, even with all his injury history considered.

If we flip our lens over to those goalies who might be traded this offseason, like Demko, we find an even shorter list. We’ve got maybe one big name in Anaheim’s John Gibson – who has just as many, if not more, questions about injuries and consistent performance as Demko – and that’s about it. Stuart Skinner, Karel Vejmelka, Joel Hofer, Linus Ullmark, or Cam Talbot could move. And maybe a team might value the consistency of someone like Vejmelka or Talbot, or the youth of Hofer, over what Demko brings. But not every team, and, in any case, there are still far more teams looking for good goalies than the amount of good goalies available.

There’s an argument to be made that Demko is the best goalie available to be acquired this offseason, and if we’re talking solely about a goalie for the 2025/26 season, that argument becomes iron-clad. And being the top goalie available on a market this thirsty must mean that some meaningful trade return is possible for the Canucks.

But what would it be?

The Potential Return

Looking for comparables can be tough, as goalie trades are relatively rare and don’t wind up setting much of a precedent for each other due to their infrequency.

Last year, the biggest goalie-related trade involved Yaroslav Askarov going to the San Jose Sharks for a first round pick, a recent first round selection, and a minor league goalie. But Askarov’s youth makes him a very poor comparable for Demko.

We could look at the previous summer’s trade of Logan Thompson to Washington in exchange for two third round picks, and worry about what that says about Demko’s value, especially given how Thompson has starred for the Capitals since. But there was some off-ice drama at play there, and that created a situation where Vegas was looking to ditch Thompson, allowing Washington to swoop in and snatch him for a bargain price. One has to hope Demko retains more value than a couple mid-round picks.

Demko’s old crease partner Jacob Markstrom went from Calgary to New Jersey last summer for a first round pick and Kevin Bahl. That’s a heavy return, and it came with Markstrom only having two years left on his contract – not far off from Demko’s one. Markstrom’s value was juiced a little bit by Calgary retaining a third of his contract, but that might not be necessary with Demko only clocking in at $5 million.

Markstrom doesn’t share the same level of injury concerns as Demko, and that increases his value. But this trade at least puts Demko in the ballpark of a return that could include a first round pick, which is definitely what many would be hoping for.

The best comparable we can offer is a trade that happened four summers ago, in July of 2021. That trade sent Darcy Kuemper from the Arizona Coyotes to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a first round pick, a conditional third round pick, and Conor Timmins.

There are a lot of parallels here. Kuemper was coming off a season in which multiple lower body injuries limited him to 27 games for the Coyotes. On top of that, Kuemper was a pending UFA, just as Demko is now.

Those two factors should have conspired to limit Kuemper’s trade value, but they didn’t. The Colorado Avalanche still identified him as their best chance at winning a Stanley Cup in 2022 and paid accordingly – and they were right. Kuemper won the Cup for Colorado, and then signed in Washington as a free agent the following summer.

Like we said, these trades are so few and far between that they don’t necessarily lay down any precedent for one another. But at least with this comparable, we see that there is a chance that a team could put together a sizeable package in exchange for a goalie that has injury concerns and a dwindling contract, sure, but one that also gives them a concrete chance to win.

Demko is the only goalie who fits this mould this offseason. There is hope that means that a first round pick is, indeed, a fair starting point in any Demko-related trade discussions (or, perhaps a more NHL-ready prospect of equivalent value, if that’s what the Canucks prefer.)

And, who knows, maybe even a little bit more on top of that?

READ NEXT: 5 Canucks whose trade protection changes as of July 1, 2025​

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-maximum-trade-value-offseason

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

NHL Notebook: Rangers trade Chris Kreider to Ducks, Oilers make lineup changes ahead of Game 4, and more

Welcome back to NHL Notebook — the series here at CanucksArmy where we deliver you news and notes from around the National Hockey League — oftentimes through a Vancouver Canucks-tinted lens.

We are just one day away from the Abbotsford Canucks kicking off their Calder Cup Final series against the Charlotte Checkers. The Checkers are the Florida Panthers’ AHL affiliate, who are also enjoying a 2-1 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers.

While outside of a few updates on the team looking into a practice facility, and some trade rumours, of course, there really isn’t much noise coming out about Vancouver – which, after the year they had, is nice. But we will likely have to wait until after Abbotsford’s run before we see any dominoes fall on how upper management will better this team.

As we wait for that to happen, other NHL teams are getting busy:

Ducks acquire Chris Kreider from Rangers​

After reports came out earlier in the week about the potential of this trade, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli confirmed on Thursday morning that the trade was finalized. The Anaheim Ducks acquired Chris Kreider and a 2025 fourth-round pick in exchange for forward prospect Carey Terrance and Toronto’s 2025 third-round pick.

Trade details, per sources:

To #NHLDucks:
Chris Kreider
ANA 2025 4th Round Pick

To #NYR:
Carey Terrance
TOR 2025 3rd Round Pick

Rangers move up 15 spots in the #NHLDraft in the swap.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 12, 2025

The Rangers had been trying to offload Kreider and his contract since November of last season, when they sent a league-wide email to the 31 other teams informing them that he was available. In-season trades of a guy who has a $6.5 million cap hit aren’t always easy, so the Rangers had to wait until the offseason to get this one across the finish line.

Kreider has spent his entire 13-year NHL career in New York, scoring 326 goals and 582 points. His numbers are good for 10th all-time in points and third in goals – 10 goals shy of second with Hockey Hall of Famer Jean Ratelle.

Last season was his worst in the NHL, scoring 22 goals but just eight assists. Kreider found himself up and down the lineup all season, seeing his ice time dip to 16:45, his lowest average since the 2017-2018 campaign. Not only did his offensive production drop off, but his defensive play struggled as well, finishing with his lowest plus/minus rating of his career (minus-5).

The American winger had a 15-team no-trade clause and had the Ducks on his no-trade list. But he waived to join his former Captain, Jacob Trouba, and former teammate Ryan Strome in Southern California. It was also reported that Kreider had an interest in joining the Ducks to play for new head coach Joel Quenneville.

This marks the third time Rangers GM Chris Drury has managed to pull off a trade to shed salary with a California team without having to retain any money on the deal. First Barclay Goodrow to the San Jose Sharks, and then Trouba last season.

With this move, the Ducks are fully bought into improving the team to burst through their rebuild and make the postseason for the first time since 2017-2018. The Ducks have $32 million left in cap space to use this postseason to continue and better the team. And after a 21-point improvement in the standings last season, they will only be a more difficult opponent for the Canucks to battle with in the Pacific Division.

Oilers make lineup changes ahead of Game 4​

After an embarrassing 6-1 loss in Game 3, the Edmonton Oilers will be making some lineup changes ahead of what feels like a do-or-die Game 4.

According to Daily Faceoff, Jeff Skinner will replace Viktor Arvidsson up front, while former Canuck Troy Stecher will come in for John Klingberg.

Expected #LetsGoOilers changes for Game 4:

IN ▲ Jeff Skinner
IN ▲ Troy Stecher
OUT ▽ Viktor Arvidsson
OUT ▽ John Klingberg https://t.co/VonUbACCNJ

— Daily Faceoff – Fantasy (@DFOFantasy) June 12, 2025

Coming into Game 3 riding a three-game point streak, Arvidsson will be sitting up in the press box tonight. Arvidsson’s ice time dipped to under 10 minutes for the first time since Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Skinner draws into the lineup for only the third time this postseason. However, when he does get into the lineup, he makes a difference, registering points in both games. The Oilers need an offensive boost after just the one-goal outing, and Skinner’s shot will be a weapon in the lineup. Skinner took line rushes with Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic at morning skate.

After Klingberg drank from the fountain of youth during this postseason run. The way he was skating through the offensive zone and his ability to move the puck up the ice gave the Oilers something they didn’t have coming from their bottom pairing. However, after a team-worst minus-3, the Oilers are choosing to sit him for Stecher.

The former Canuck fit in nicely and seemed to calm things down for Darnell Nurse. Through six games this postseason, Stecher is averaging 15:56 minutes per game, recording six shots on goal and a plus-3 rating.

The Oilers made a few line changes as well. Connor Brown switches places on the top line, with Corey Perry:

EDM lines – Thursday Morning Skate:

RNH – McDavid – Brown
Kane – Draisaitl – Kapanen
Skinner – Henrique – Frederic
Podkolzin – Janmark – Perry

• Arvidsson, Ryan, Jones

Ekholm – Walman
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Bouchard

• Klingberg, Emberson, Dineen#Oilers

— Tony Brar (@TonyBrarOTV) June 12, 2025

Anze Kopitar wins Lady Byng​

In the final special announcement before tonight’s NHL Award show, Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar was awarded the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

And the "Nicest NHL Player" award goes to…

Anze Kopitar's kids surprised him with his third Lady Byng Memorial Trophy during a day of family golf in Slovenia.

Catch the 2025 #NHLAwards before Game 4 of the #StanleyCup Final TONIGHT at 6p ET on @NHL_On_TNT and… pic.twitter.com/yoLqTKXgdk

— NHL (@NHL) June 12, 2025

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is presented to the player who has exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.

The tenured King finished the season with 21 goals and 67 points with a plus-14 rating in 81 games. What earned him the award was strong play in both ends of the ice and his four penalty minutes.

This is the third time Kopitar has won the award, his first back in 2015-2016 and another in 2022-2023. This was his fourth nomination, finishing in third in 2014-2015, the year before he won the award.

Kopitar beat out Tampa Bay Lightning centre Brayden Point and Vegas Golden Knights assistant captain Jack Eichel. Last season, Canucks forward Elias Pettersson finished as the runner up to Carolina Hurricanes’ Jaccob Slavin. This season, another Canuck received votes as Captain Quinn Hughes earned a fourth and fifth place vote.

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/nhl-no...dmonton-oilers-line-changes-ahead-game-4-more

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Canucks’ Quinn Hughes picks up Hart Trophy votes; Hellebuyck takes home the award

The National Hockey League released their final two awards ahead of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, awarding both the Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy to Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck.

Hellebuyck had one of the best seasons for a goaltender in recent memory. In the 63 regular season games he appeared in, Hellebuyck finished with a 47-12-3 record, a 2.00 goals against average and a .925 save percentage, with eight shutouts. He led all NHL goaltenders in wins, goals against average, save percentage, and shutouts of netminders who played at least 50 games.

Historically, Hellebuyck’s season ranked third in wins, 25th in goals against average and 41st in save percentage in NHL history.

It was just the ninth time in NHL history that a goaltender won the Hart Trophy, with Hellebuyck becoming the eighth different netminder to do so – Dominik Hasek won the award twice, in 1996-1997 and 1997-1998.

This marks Hellebuyck’s third Vezina Trophy, winning now in back-to-back seasons and three of the last six years. The American netminder is the first goalie to win back-to-back Vezina Trophies since Martin Brodeur did it in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004.

Hellebuyck was just one vote shy of being a unanimous winner. Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy earned a lone first-place vote, with Darcy Kuemper finishing third.

Final voting results for the 2024-25 Vezina Trophy: pic.twitter.com/aZbys1X0B8

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 12, 2025

The Hart Trophy voting was a lot closer than the Vezina. Hellebuyck narrowly edged out Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, earning 137 more points than the German forward. After taking home the Ted Lindsay Trophy, voted on by the players, Nikita Kucherov finishes third in voting, beat Colorado Avalanche centreman Nathan MacKinnon by just one point.

Final voting results for the 2024-25 Hart Trophy: pic.twitter.com/ATn5o24Z8g

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 12, 2025

By looking at the ballot, Canucks fans should notice that Quinn Hughes earned himself a pair of third-placed votes, along with six fifth place votes. This coming just one season after the Canucks Captain took home the Norris Trophy as the leagues top defenceman.

Hughes was also named to the NHL Second All-Star team.

Shining brightest across the league

Congrats to Captain Quinn Hughes on being named to the 2024.25 NHL Second All-Star Team! pic.twitter.com/bWmYfz9Pqh

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) June 12, 2025

Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar and Columbus Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski were the two defencemen named to the first team, with Hughes joining Lightning captain Victor Hedman on the second team. Brandon Hagel, Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrnak and Vasilevskiy round out the second team.

Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancou...hart-trophy-votes-hellebuyck-takes-home-award

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Canucks offseason centre trade target: Trevor Zegras

As the Vancouver Canucks and their fans look around the league with envy at various other forward corps, they’ve got to keep something in mind – Zegras is always greener on the other side.

Sorry. But we knew this particular offseason centre trade target might prove controversial, so we wanted to lighten the mood up front with a terrible pun.

Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks is a mercurial player, both in terms of the consistency of his play and in the opinions of others regarding that play. He’s gone from EA Sports cover boy to someone without a clear-cut future with the club that drafted him, and in short order.

All that being said, he remains one of the most talented forwards available on the NHL trade market this summer.

In fact, Zegras may have just become a little more available. The Ducks acquired Chris Kreider from the New York Rangers on Thursday, loading up their burgeoning forward roster a little further. Kreider ostensibly joins an Anaheim group that already includes the youth of Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Cutter Gauthier and the more veteran presence of Troy Terry, Ryan Strome, Frank Vatrano, and Alex Killorn.

With prospects like Bennett Sennecke and Sam Colangelo on the way, too, it’s all starting to look a little overstuffed.

And then there’s Zegras. He’s gone from seasons of 61 and 65 points in his first two full NHL campaigns to seasons of just 15 (in 31 games) and 32 points (in 57 games) with no gap in between. It might seem like Zegras has been around for longer, but he’s about to enter his sixth NHL season, and nobody really knows what to make of him yet.

It’s the kind of situation where we typically use the phrase ‘change of scenery.’ Anaheim is stocked up well enough that Zegras is in danger of losing further opportunity, which only reduces his value further and decreases the odds of him turning it around. Combine that truth with a general perception that Zegras’ attitude and commitment levels have got in the way of his progress, and you end up with a player that the Ducks could be looking to cash in on, now, before it’s potentially too late to garner a return based on Zegras’ one-time potential.

But are the Canucks the right buyer for this distressed asset?

The Player​

The most important thing to keep in mind with Zegras is that he’s just 24 years old and will remain so for the majority of the 2025/26 season.

Zegras was drafted out of the USHL at 9th overall in 2019 and spent a single season with Boston University in 2019/20 before moving on to the pros.

He split the 2020/21 season between Anaheim and San Diego of the AHL. With the Gulls, he managed 21 points in 17 games, an impressive stat line for a teenage rookie pro. He managed 24 games in Anaheim that year as well, scoring 13 points in 24 games while retaining his Calder eligibility for the following season.

The 2021/22 season was Zegras’s first full season with the Ducks, and he came out gangbusters. An end result of 23 goals and 61 points in 75 games definitely made Zegras stand out. He was nominated for the Calder Trophy, but lost out to Moritz Seider of Detroit. But that offseason, Zegras received a different honour in the form of the NHL 23 cover, shared with the newest PWHL Vancouver star, Sarah Nurse.

Zegras’ sophomore year might not have been a major step forward, but it at least wasn’t a step back. He maintained his health and offensive output, notching another 23 goals and 65 points, this time in 81 games.

Then came the turn.

Zegras’ 2022/23 season ended with a lower-body injury that no doubt hampered his offseason plans, but not the Ducks’ plans to sign him to a three-year, $5.75 million AAV bridge deal. Unfortunately for both sides, it wasn’t too long into the 2023/24 season that Zegras suffered another LBI that kept him out of the lineup a little longer than a month – his first major injury. Then, he was only back on the ice for a few weeks before a broken ankle took him out again, this time for longer than two months.

In the end, Zegras would play just 31 games this year, with six goals and 15 points.

His most recent 2024/25 could be considered a rebound of sorts, but not a complete rebound. Once again, a lower-body injury, this time to his knee, kept Zegras out for almost two months. He managed 57 games, but just 12 goals and 32 points – both a far cry from his rookie and sophomore numbers, and definitely not the kind of statline to get EA Sports’ attention.

And that’s where we find ourselves in the present moment.

Zegras is about to begin the final year of that $5.75 million extension. He’s still young enough to be an RFA when it expires next summer. But it’s looking less and less like he’ll still be a Duck when that time comes around.

Will he be a Canuck instead?

Despite the inconsistency at play, there’s not much mystery about what type of player Zegras is. We refer to trade targets as ‘skilled’ or ‘talented’ fairly frequently, but when we use those terms in reference to Zegras, we really mean them. This is a truly high-skill individual, in the same lane that Alex Kovalev used to occupy. If NHL hockey didn’t involve defence, it’s been said that Zegras could be one of the NHL’s greatest. It’s getting consistent results against NHL defences, which has proven tricky.

Zegras’ size is fine enough at 6’0”, though he could still stand to add some muscle. His skating is good, if not great. But Zegras’ calling card will always be that almost unparalleled creativity with the puck, which could and has translated into Zegras being a truly unique playmaker.

He’s got hands, is what we’re saying, and those hands don’t go away just because of a couple of LBIs and some down years. The skill remains – but then, so do all those downsides to Zegras, like his play away from the puck and whispers of his too-casual approach to the game.

The Fit​

Usually in these articles, we talk about the cost before we talk about the fit, but we’ve switched it up this time for one simple reason: there’s a debate to be had about whether or not Zegras is worth any cost to the Canucks. No doubt some of you reading this already have him in the ‘do not acquire’ column due to his established reputation.

On the one hand, Zegras has spent as much time on the wing in the last couple of seasons as he has at centre, despite that being his natural position. If the Canucks were to trade for him, they’d almost certainly be doing so with the attention of playing him at 2C, so they’d first have to be confident about him returning to that position. For our money, we’ll note that his best NHL years came as a centre, and hope that he can get back to that.

For his part, Zegras has indicated that he does not enjoy playing on the wing, and would prefer a move back to centre – one more reason he’s probably fine being traded away from Anaheim and their abundance of pivots.

Zegras doesn’t profile as a Rick Tocchet sort of player, which raises an obvious question about how well he’d get on with Adam Foote. But at the same time, if a change of scenery trade also serves as a bit of a wake-up call and inspires Zegras to do some learning, this is a coaching staff that can definitely assist him on the defensive side of his play.

The 24-year-old would certainly make for an injection of outright scoring skill, something the Canucks are relatively short on, especially with Brock Boeser still set to depart. We worry that Zegras being more of a playmaker isn’t necessarily a fit for the wingers the Canucks have on hand, who also tend to make plays more than they directly score. But we do like the potential puck-handling combo of Zegras and Conor Garland, and we could imagine him making for a great rookie linemate for a sniper like Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

Zegras could be just what the Canucks’ anemic power play ordered, too.

The salary is definitely something the Canucks can accommodate, and unless Zegras turns it around in a major way, they don’t have to worry too much about a pay raise. If that happens, it’s a good problem.

But that’s the central issue all the same. For Zegras to be any sort of ‘fit’ in Vancouver, and especially for him to constitute any sort of upgrade on the centre depth behind Elias Pettersson, Filip Chytil, Aatu Räty, and Teddy Blueger, Zegras is going to need to bounce back – if not all the way to his rookie greatness, then at least closer to that standard than his current rate of play.

Certain past versions of Zegras would be a great fit for the Canucks. The question is which Zegras shows up.

The Cost​

Here we reach an interesting little mini-debate. Is Zegras currently worth the Canucks’ first round pick, slated at 15th overall?

The gut reaction is definitely ‘no.’ Zegras was once drafted at 9OA himself, but these last two seasons had to have depreciated his value considerably. There’s a real risk in trading an asset as good as a mid-round first for a player with this many question marks.

If there’s a real concerted belief in Zegras, especially his ability to turn it around, then it could definitely be argued that the 15OA is a fair straight-up return. But making that determination would require some due diligence, and it’s hard to imagine how the Canucks could perform that due diligence while Zegras belongs to another club.

Suffice it to say, that the first rounder is the highest price the Canucks could justify paying for Zegras, and that they’d certainly hope to land him for less.

Maybe that lesser price is a different first round pick if the Canucks can manage to acquire one for, say, Thatcher Demko or Conor Garland. Maybe it’s next year’s first with some heavy protective clauses attached.

Or maybe, just maybe, the desire for the Ducks to part with Zegras is stronger than we realize, and they’d be willing to accept a lesser package. If the Canucks could land him for something like their second-round pick and a non-top-shelf prospect, then we imagine that most would be all for it. That’s a price tag that fits the risk attached to Zegras.

Anything more than that, and we’re not sure Zegras is going to be worth it – nor do we even know how to guess, really, until we’ve seen him play a little more hockey.

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-offseason-centre-trade-target-trevor-zegras