Canucks Send Memo To 31 Teams, Submits 4 Players in Particular On Trade Block

Jim Rutherford and the Vancouver Canucks are ready to do business. We have known this since Monday. But we're now learning that the team even sent out a memo to the other 31 teams around the NHL that they, in particular, are looking to trade any of their pending unrestricted free agents. That means four names are definitely up for grabs:

Jim Rutherford told PJ that all their pending UFAs are available: Kiefer Sherwood, Teddy Blueger, Evander Kane and Derek Forbort.

— Taj (@taj1944) November 25, 2025

Kiefer Sherwood, Teddy Blueger, Evander Kane and Derek Forbort are all pending UFAs (as is the newly-acquired David Kampf). 

This news comes just a day after insider Elliotte Friedman suggested that the Canucks will be "Rumor Central" going forward on the trade front.

In a new interview on Tuesday, just dropped by Patrick Johnson of the Vancouver Province, Rutherford made it clear what direction his club is headed:

“We have to make this team younger. We have to get this team going in a different direction from where we’ve been.”

With this revelation about the UFAs, Rutherford is getting out ahead of the pack, as Johnson notes, ready to make "trade-deadline style" deals months before anyone else.

“The position of the team is that you would be willing to talk about the unrestricted free agents that would be talked about closer to the trade deadline,” he said.

“This isn’t about just looking at trading everybody," added Rutherford. "There are a number of veterans who have played very well, so this isn’t about clumping everybody together. It’s more about accelerating the obvious (moves) that could be made two months down the road.”

So is this a rebuild? The president of hockey ops says you could apply any 'R' word you want. “Use whatever word people like, whether it’s somewhat of a rebuild, not a full-blown rebuild, but a rebuild-retool, whatever. It’s the position we’ve been in since the J.T. Miller trade.”

The Canucks were forced to deal Miller midway through last season, after the feud between the veteran center and his younger counterpart, Elias Pettersson, reached untenable proportions. 

But all of this begs the question: What happens with Quinn Hughes in all of this? The Norris Trophy-winning defenseman is the Canucks' MVP, but only has one more year after this one remaining on his contract. What impact will this little sell-off have on his desire to consider an extension this coming summer?

“I believe Quinn and his agent are aware of the direction we want to go. And they’re aware of the direction they want to go," Rutherford said in response to the Hughes questions. "Everybody wants to play on a winning team. But there’s different reasons why people make decisions,” he said.

Fun times ahead in B.C.... Stay tuned.