The 2025-26 season has been a complete disaster for the Vancouver Canucks. After entering the campaign with the goal of bouncing back from their poor 2024-25 season, the Canucks have instead taken another massive step in the wrong direction.
At the time of this writing, the Canucks are at the very bottom of the NHL standings with an 18-35-7 record and just 43 points. The St. Louis Blues, who are currently the second-worst team in the NHL, have 10 more points than Vancouver with 53. With this, the Canucks are the NHL’s worst team by a significant margin at this point in the campaign.
Due to how poorly this season has gone for the Canucks, they already traded Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood earlier this campaign. Yet, with the 2026 NHL trade deadline almost here and the Canucks now rebuilding, several of their players are creating chatter as trade candidates.
The Canucks’ most notable trade candidates include Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, Evander Kane, and Tyler Myers. They also have two solid pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs) in Teddy Blueger and David Kampf, who have the potential to be moved.
With this, the possibility of the Canucks having a different-looking roster between now and the deadline is certainly there. However, the Canucks have now gotten a trade deadline prediction that would be far less than ideal if it comes to fruition.
Canucks Predicted to Have Disappointing Trade Deadline
In a recent article for The Athletic, Thomas Drance predicted that the Canucks won’t make a lot of moves and instead will have a disappointing trade deadline this year.
“The Canucks aren’t very good at managing the NHL trade deadline, historically speaking. It’s a trend that predates current management, but also applies to them, especially after last season when they didn’t monetize either Brock Boeser or Pius Suter before the deadline. I predict the club will fail to move at least one of their three pending UFA veterans (David Kämpf, Evander Kane and Teddy Blueger),” Drance wrote.
With the Canucks in the middle of a rebuild, it would certainly be disappointing if they had a quiet trade deadline. The Canucks have some very solid trading assets that they could flip to better their future. While they could have some challenges moving players with term like DeBrusk and Garland, they should be actively looking to move out each of their notable pending UFAs. They are not in a position to potentially lose players through free agency for nothing.
Canucks Trade Candidates Should Be Popular Targets
The Canucks’ trade candidates also have the potential to generate a good amount of interest around the league. Teams looking for a boost in their top six certainly could consider pursuing DeBrusk and Garland. Kane would also be a good addition for contenders that are looking for more grit and secondary scoring in their top nine.
As for Kampf and Blueger, they both have the potential to be good additions to a playoff team’s bottom six. Blueger is having the better season out of the pair, but Kampf’s fantastic ability at the dot and strong penalty killing should still make him a popular target.
It will be interesting to see what moves the Canucks make from here, but they really can’t afford to have a quiet trade deadline. This is especially so with their pending UFAs.
Canucks Hit With Concerning Trade Deadline Prediction