Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis has had a rough few days and if the latest report is true, perceptions won’t be getting any better.
Fluto Shinzawa of The Boston Globe reports the Canucks had a deal set to go with the Boston Bruins on trade deadline day that would’ve sent Alex Edler to the Bruins, but there was a hangup:
They were waiting for the Canucks to deal Ryan Kesler to Pittsburgh first.
As we know, that never happened. The Penguins’ deal for Kesler was reportedly for Brandon Sutter and draft picks, but the two sides couldn’t agree. According to Shinzawa, the Bruins were set to send either Ryan Spooner or Alexander Khoklachev and Matt Bartkowski to Vancouver for Edler.
If that deal sounds familiar, it’s essentially the same package they put together to try and land Jarome Iginla last season, a deal they were beat out for by the Penguins.
As it was, Shinzawa said the Bruins got Philadelphia to eat a lot of money on the Andrej Meszaros deal because they were looking to save cap space to acquire Edler. The Flyers have to be excited they did that now.
Gillis said at the conclusion of deadline day that they entertained many offers but none met their needs. Instead, the only deal the Canucks got done was the out-of-the-blue Roberto Luongo trade to Florida that signaled they were ready to blow things up and start over.
Instead, they’ve got a (likely) grumpy Kesler and now Edler stuck on a team that looks completely deflated. A 6-1 loss to Dallas last night showed that off.
If the Canucks can’t turn things around and crash into the postseason, it sets up the NHL Draft as their next opportunity to get things done. It’s never dull in Vancouver.