With the recent departures of J.T. Miller and Pius Suter, the Vancouver Canucks have been a little thin down the middle. Now, after injuries to Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger, their need for a second-line centre is reaching dire status.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada, the Canucks’ interest in the Brno, Czechia native dates back to the off-season.
“I think it’s all the way going back to the summer, the Canucks and Bruins have been on-off about this,” Friedman said.
Reports started emerging this week about Vancouver’s renewed interest in the 28-year-old, who has two goals and nine points in 10 games this year, amid the slew of Canucks injuries.
The ball remains in the Bruins’ court, however, and with one year remaining still on Zacha’s four-year, $19 million contract, Boston need not rush any decisions on some of their trade assets.
“Teams are looking for centres, Boston doesn’t have to do anything here it doesn’t want to do,” Friedman added. “But this has been kind of a dance with the Canucks and some other teams, seeing if they can pry Zacha out of there.”
The Canucks do have something going for them, though, according to Friedman:
“I do not believe they are on Zacha’s no-trade list.”