Trade speculation on Canucks' Tyler Myers heats up

Over the weekend, reports emerged that the Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators had discussed a potential Tyler Myers–Nikita Zaitsev swap. The talks didn’t get far enough to approach either player to waive his no-trade clause, but it still caused plenty of speculation over whether the Canucks will try to move on from their big defenseman.

Monday, while discussing the particulars on CHEK TV, Rick Dhaliwal explained how difficult it will be to move Myers.

"Here’s the problem. Myers has a $5M signing bonus coming his way on July 1. That’s tough for any team to digest. That’s maybe why Ottawa is asking for a sweetener, something the Canucks are not in the mood to give up."

The Canucks are already without their 2024 second-round pick because of a trade that sent Jason Dickinson to the Chicago Blackhawks and do not appear to be in any position to start handing out more future assets. The team is struggling to stay in the Pacific Division race (despite some recent success) and likely could get Myers off the books much easier if it waited until after that $5M signing bonus is paid out.

The 32-year-old defenseman is only signed through 2023-24 at a $6M cap hit, meaning any acquiring team next summer would get him for just $1M in actual salary. With a 10-team no-trade clause, Myers does have some say in where he ends up.

Vancouver could use that cap space next season, as J.T. Miller’s extension comes into effect and captain Bo Horvat needs a new deal. Even Andrei Kuzmenko, who has been one of the team’s more consistent offensive pieces, could factor into the financial planning as he too is an unrestricted free agent after his one-year, entry-level deal expires.

Moving Myers this year would obviously help given the team is currently deep into LTIR space and will be in an extremely tight cap situation when Tucker Poolman and Travis Dermott are ready to be activated. But it might not be possible at this point, especially given his recent decrease in responsibility.

Myers has seen fewer than 19 minutes in each of the last three games and is now averaging fewer than 21 on the season for just the second time in his 14-year career.