Bruins linked to Canucks in trade talks

It’s been one Hell of a rough start to the 2021 season for the Vancouver Canucks. 

Following a breakout campaign in 2019-20 in which the Canucks not only qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but were also just a single victory away from the Western Conference Final, the Canucks have fallen flat on their face this campaign. 

Canucks GM Jim Benning had an absolutely disastrous offseason and is now deemed to be responsible for the team’s poor start to the season. Benning famously wiffed on pending free agents Jacob Markstrom, Tyler Toffoli and Chris Tanev and instead put his focus on acquiring Arizona Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman Larsson. In the end, Benning ended up with none of those players on his roster and was forced to scramble by signing veteran goaltender Braden Holtby and acquiring veteran defenceman Nate Schmidt. Well.. in 15 games so far this season Holtby has been a disaster and Schmidt has been barely noticeable. Meanwhile, Toffoli is one of the most prolific goal scorers in the NHL and Markstrom looks like the best Flames netminder since Miikka Kipprusoff. Suffice it to say that things could not have gone worse for Benning and the Canucks to start this season. As you might imagine a LOT of Canucks fans are calling for Benning’s head. 

But, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman thinks the team will make some roster changes before handing Benning his walking papers. Former 6th overall pick Jake Virtanen is on the trade block and Friedman reports that the Boston Bruins have shown interest. Ditto for the Ottawa Senators.

Check it out:

“I think one of the teams that have been sniffing around Virtanen is Boston. If you can do something with the Bruins… I think Ottawa is a team that has had some interest in Virtanen in the past.”

For what it’s worth, Virtanen isn’t exactly setting the world on fire so don’t expect the Canucks to recoup much in a trade. After a stellar 18 goals and 36 points in 69 games with the Canucks last season, Virtanen has just a single goal in 11 games this season. He also makes $2.55 million against the salary cap for this season and next season. Not exactly what you’d call a hot commodity…