A famous philosopher and chicken entrepreneur once mused that \u201cYou got to know when to hold them, [and] know when to fold them.\u201d That rings true about any form of gambling, and what is hockey management but one of the most expensive forms of gambling out there?<\/p>\n
The Vancouver Canucks<\/a> have a lot of decisions to make over the coming weeks, months, and years of this rebuild. Almost all of these decisions will involve some risk-reward trade-off and thus be gambles. And there\u2019s a very direct element of holding and folding at play as the newest Canucks front office attempts to reshape the roster toward a more youth-oriented plan.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no secret that the Canucks are going to be dealing away some more veterans, both in the immediate future and into the more medium term. But the exact timing of those transactions is tricky.<\/p>\n The Vancouver Canucks bottomed out as a franchise in 2025-26<\/a>, and the respective values of many of their veteran players similarly tanked as a result. But bottoming out doesn\u2019t always equate to staying bottomed out. The balance that GM Ryan Johnson and Co. have to strike is figuring out which veterans have truly reached the basement of their tradeable value \u2013 those would be the ones to \u2018fold\u2019 on, or trade, right now \u2013 and those who have a real chance of rebounding to a higher value. Those would be the ones to \u2018hold,\u2019 so to speak, at least for a portion of the 2026-27.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a little tempting to say that any veteran could regain some trade value with a good enough 2026-27 season, because that\u2019s technically true. But we\u2019re looking at more likelihoods and practicalities here, and those swings in trade value that might actually matter.<\/p>\n Jake DeBrusk, for example, is a veteran who many expect to be traded this offseason. He actually had a pretty solid 2025-26, scoring 23 goals. But in DeBrusk\u2019s nine-year NHL career to date, he\u2019s scored at least 19 goals seven times. He\u2019s a very established, if streaky, quantity at this level. Another 20+-goal campaign isn\u2019t going to move DeBrusk\u2019s trade value up much, if any. A bad season, conversely, could drop his value, and so it makes sense for the Canucks to trade him sooner, rather than later \u2013 so long as DeBrusk is as willing to waive his no-movement clause as he sounds to be.<\/p>\n Filip Hronek<\/a> also probably falls into this category. At this point, he\u2019s fairly established as a top-pairing right-shot defender, and that gives him an inherent and immense trade value. Another year of leading the Vancouver blueline isn\u2019t going to do much to change that. Hronek\u2019s value should remain fairly steady, though we\u2019re not so sure that means the Canucks should trade him quite yet.<\/p>\n On the other end of the spectrum might lie Brock Boeser. He and his contract are firmly into \u2018it is what it is\u2019 territory. Boeser can be expected to produce as he has throughout his career, but he is at the age where the returns will continue to diminish, especially in other areas of the game. Even if Boeser has a good 2026-27 and pops in, say, 30 goals again, it won\u2019t do too much to add value.<\/p>\n Today, we\u2019re looking for those with more potential to swing, and a real chance to increase their trade values and the returns the Canucks should expect back for them, so long as the Canucks \u2018hold\u2019 onto them for at least the first few months of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n Marcus Pettersson<\/p>\n You knew a Pettersson was going to be first on this list; it was just a matter of which one. We went with Marcus because of his 10 years of fairly consistent top-four-quality play prior to the 2025-26 season. Having hit the age of 30, it\u2019s possible that Pettersson is just getting older, but given that the entire Vancouver blueline appeared to suffer under Adam Foote this past year, it\u2019s easy enough to lay the majority of the blame on coaching.<\/p>\n Pettersson doesn\u2019t need to rebound that much under Manny Malhotra to start looking like a sharp, reliable LD addition for a contending team looking to add experience. In short, 2026-27 was by far the worst season of his career<\/a>, and a considerable rebound seems incredibly likely. A few extra points, and some better defensive analytics, and Pettersson might not be back in \u201cfirst round pick\u201d territory, but he will have regained positive trade value.Elias PetterssonThe numbers might not be back, but Pettersson did look a little less lost out there at times in 2025-26. The new regime seems like it will be more patient with him than the last one<\/a>. If\u00a0that translates into even a slight uptick in production while still maintaining his usual level of defensive play, then Pettersson will start to look more and more like an intriguing acquisition from another team.<\/p>\n There is a risk factor here. Any further deterioration in his play would take whatever value he has now and put it through a wood chipper. But there won\u2019t be many other centres stealing ice-time away from Pettersson in 2026-27, and so he should get his opportunities. Getting up from his current 0.75 PPG rate to something closer to 0.90 would go a long way. And it\u2019s worth mentioning that a lot of big contracts are going to be signed this offseason, and as they do, Pettersson\u2019s $11.6 million cap hit is going to start looking more swallowable. It\u2019ll still be too big, but less standout-ishly so, and that will have to help his comparative value.<\/p>\n We\u2019d go so far as to say that even if Pettersson doesn\u2019t increase his play quality much at all, but merely maintains it, in 2026-27, that probably helps his trade value. The more the memory fades and the less we\u2019re all able to compare Pettersson to his past self, the better other teams will be able to judge his remaining positive qualities for themselves.<\/p>\n Thatcher Demko<\/p>\n Right now, we\u2019d argue that Demko\u2019s trade value is well into the negatives. An $8 million cap hit is already a pretty sizeable one for a starting goaltender, and it\u2019s not clear whether or not Demko will ever be healthy enough to be a regular NHL goaltender again, never mind a starting one. Nobody, and we mean nobody, is going to take a gamble so large on an asset so expensive for a position so important.<\/p>\n