Can the Canucks Actually Trade for Pavel Zacha?
In this episode, I talk about the Vancouver Canucks’ injury troubles and what Filip Chytil’s absence means for the team’s center depth. Could a trade be coming soon? I share my thoughts on Pavel Zacha, Alex Wennberg, and whether the Canucks can actually afford to make a move right now.
I also give a quick Pipe Dreamz update, correct a mistake from my last video, and look ahead to J.T. Miller’s return to Vancouver next week.
– Nuckhead
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27 Comments
GONNA GET FUCKED KEEP YOUR DRAFT PICKS AND BUILD
Help. We need positivity after the Preds loss. Help!!! 😭
I will die on the hill that this core’s best contending window was between 2021 and 2023—especially in 2021. At that point, Pettersson and Hughes were still on their entry-level contracts. Demko had a cap hit under $2 million. Horvat and Miller were both producing well on team-friendly deals at $5.5 million and $5.25 million respectively. If that team hadn’t been mismanaged by Benning and weighed down by pre-existing albatross contracts, most notably Eriksson, Beagle, and Roussel—it could have been genuinely dangerous. Surrounding that core with smart, affordable depth players should have been the priority.
A properly run front office wouldn’t have had that many bloated contracts during the lean rebuilding years from 2015 to 2020. In fact, a smart team should’ve accumulated a stockpile of draft capital and long-term assets during that time. Instead, those years left us with little to show for it. Worth noting: without those bad contracts clogging the books, the Canucks could’ve retained both Toffoli and Tanev at perfectly reasonable deals, $4.25M and $4.5M respectively. With the flat cap during COVID, there were quality depth pieces available for cheap across the league. It was a buyer’s market, and the Canucks couldn’t take advantage of it because of their self-inflicted cap hell. The Canadian Division that year was the weakest of the four. Even making the playoffs as a top-four team in that division could’ve given the Canucks a real shot at a Conference Final appearance.
And then there’s the long-term effect. Without those contracts, Vancouver could have signed both Pettersson and Hughes to 8×8 extensions in the 2021 offseason. That would have set the foundation for long-term success and cap stability. Most importantly, there would have been no need for the disastrous OEL trade that has set the franchise back multiple years. That deal only happened because they were desperate to get rid of Beagle, Roussel, and Eriksson. If those contracts didn’t exist, the trade doesn’t either.
The combination of Francesco Aquilini’s meddling and Jim Benning’s incompetence dragged this franchise down year after year. The list of ill-advised signings is staggering: Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Sam Gagner, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, Michael Ferland, and Tyler Myers (who we have grown to love lately but was still overpaid by atleast $1.5 million per season at the time of his signing). And let’s not forget the trades: a 2nd-rounder for Linden Vey, a 2nd for Sven Baertschi, trading Jared McCann and a 2nd for Erik Gudbranson, and flipping Gustav Forsling for Adam Clendening. Then add three major draft misses in the top 10 over five years—Virtanen, Juolevi, and Podkolzin—and it just became too much to overcome.
Some of this falls squarely on Benning’s shoulders, but a larger part of the blame lies with Aquilini. His obsession with short-term playoff revenue kept the team stuck in limbo—too bad to compete, too proud to rebuild. Benning, ever the yes-man, did what he needed to keep his job instead of what was right for the franchise. That led to years of poor asset management, misaligned moves, and missed opportunities. Eventually, it brought us to where we are now.
No team is immune to mistakes. Even the best-run organizations whiff on free-agent signings, draft picks, or trades. But good teams have a process and a direction that aligns with where they are in the cycle. The Canucks didn’t. To quote Trevor Linden—back when he was still President of Hockey Ops: “While a good process does not guarantee a good result, I know a bad process will not lead to one.” That line sums up this era of Canucks hockey perfectly.
im with you on zacha man. Lets hope they can figure stuff out but it always seems like the canuck trades look good at first then nothing gets better…
Not for the first round pick the canucks aren,t in a position where a zacha would help overly much if chytle foesn,t come back
They need a 1C as Petey is now a over paid 2C. No chance they are getting a 1C so say goodbye to playoffs and Quinn Hughes which put them into a new management and a retool/rebuild in the following 10 years.
WE GOT REICHEL
Retain half of Hughes contract and get a haul from a contender, he looks disinterested with Petey and the team… Hope I'm wrong and he stays and this is just a slump for him
7:17 called it
I’m not sure about this Reichel kid, I haven’t heard of him but it’s good to see that we are moving for pieces instead of waiting
What are you guys talking about the Canucks have pretty much already won the Stanley cup !
Cole Sillinger is my choice for a trade for a center. (Crosby is my pipe dream). No to trading the 2026 1st rounder unless if its for a real game breaking center.
anybody else triggered that the square on the logo is slightly crooked?
theyre not winning for the most part ; record = 4-4-0 (thats .500 equal wins/loss
Maybe we can get jack Hughes maybe 🤔 🤷♂️
ai gives me a little tingle wingle when I think about how criminals will use it 😢
It's time to rebuild. This core is past it's best days, aside from Hughes, who is fed up of this team
Just a small correction, Zacha has another year on his contract, so you'd be getting him for this season and next.
"pettersson is the old lady. umm you guys scared about AI?" perfect transition, 10/10 no notes. anyways rly enjoyed this ep mister nuckhead!
a potential top pairing right-shot D, like Willander, should be considered untouchable.
Bwaaaaha ha ha never going to happen.
EP40 to Boston for Pavel Zacha
Its Saturday for me, not friday.
Imagine losing PIUS SUTER for nothing. Biggest L. We didnt and never needed Kane.
Yes Petterson and a draft pick for Zacha. We need the cap space for team leaders and other players who come to play every night.
rutherford and allvin are going to get fleeced by the bruins. handing over picks and young prospects for a 28 yr old who's plateaued. another temp fix mortgaged with future players so grandpa and his clowns could keep their jobs.
The way I look at this situation is, what is the Canucks ceiling with Zacha and what would it cost to get him? Only an idiot would look at this roster and give up a 1st round pick for a second line centre that at best is only going to get the team into the playoffs and no further. Sure, ownership gets 2 home playoff games in revenue, and the fans who paid to watch in the arena are flat broke or too rich to care, but it sets the franchise back…again. At some point we have to decide what the end game is. Playoffs and that's it? Or a championship? Quinn isn't sticking around to watch the team get patched up every year for a shot at a 1st round playoff exit. And if Quinn isn't sticking around anyway, why are we considering giving up a 1st round pick for basically nothing? You know what teams trade 1st rounders? 2 kinds. The kind who are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders and teams that usually eventually get moved to another city.