Jim Rutherford Reveals if Club Would be Willing to Trade Any of Their Top Prospects
Photo credit: Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford has revealed whether or not the club would be willing to trade any of their top prospects.
The Vancouver Canucks are continuing to scour the trade market for help on forward and the organization deals with injuries, especially down the middle with Filip Chyil and Teddy Blueger on the sidelines.
General Manager Patrik Allvin has searched high and low for help down the middle dating back to this summer as they club was hoping to land an upgrade at the second line center position, but unfortunately they've struck out countless times, aside from bringing in Lukas Reichel, although he's more suited to play on the wing.
With trade talks set to heat up around the National Hockey League in the coming weeks and if Patrik Allvin wants to land a big fish on the market, he's likely going to have to cough up one of the team's top prospects, but is he willing to do that?
Vancouver Canucks' Jim Rutherford pours cold water over top prospect being available
This week, Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford was asked in an interview with Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre if any of the team's top prospects, including Braeden Cootes, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Tom Willander and Elias Pettersson, are available for trade.
Rutherford said that the club is not planning on move any of those four, but if they were to at some point down the line, it would have to be someone who's in the 25-and-under age range who could make a significant impact on their NHL roster.
"That is not in the plan. People use different words as to how a team goes forward. Some people use 'rebuild.' Some use the word 'transition.' You can spin it whatever way you like. 'Retool.' But the fact of the matter is, we're at a point where our amateur scouts and development staff under Patrik have done a good job in building up a good group of young players, and it would take something extreme for us to start cutting into that. Now, I'm not saying we wouldn't trade one of these players. But if we did, it would be for somebody that's 25 years or younger. Even our core, older guys are still in their 20s; we're still a relatively young team. It's not like we're an aging team that's got nowhere to go." Rutherford said.
At this point, the Canucks have to weigh if they're going to push for a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs or shift their attention to the future because if the club wants to be playing hockey well into May and even June they're going to need some external help, especially in their top-six, which won't come cheap.
Source: Sportsnet/Iain MacIntyre
Q and A: Canucks' Jim Rutherford on rebuilds, injuries and overall outlook
Q and A: Canucks' Jim Rutherford on rebuilds, injuries and overall outlook
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