Canucks Looking To Trade DeBrusk

The Vancouver Canucks are in a weird spot. They are definitely bad enough to commit to a rebuild, but even after trading Quinn Hughes, the feeling is that they are avoiding that course of action. They have the ability to go in that direction and succeed over the next few seasons by collecting younger players and draft picks moving off of their larger contracts as the upcoming drafts are good.

One of the players that is in trade rumors is Jake DeBrusk, in just his second of a seven-year deal. But that is the type of moves that will have to be made if the Canucks are to commit to a direction for the team. According to Darren Dreger, "Canucks would like to move Jake DeBrusk. I think there would be a market for him. He has a NMC, but it's maybe not as cut and dry."

DeBrusk has a full no-move clause until the end of next season, and then it turns into a 15-team no-trade list, which is much more manageable. But the Canucks are at the bottom of the league and haven't been competitive since DeBrusk arrived. He is a top-6 winger and definitely worth some assets as his cap hit is $5.5 million AAV.

DeBrusk is second on the team with 12 goals and fourth on the team with 22 points in 43 games. The lack of production comes from a bad team in general as he ranks high amongst his own team and is on the top line and top power play. The 29-year-old plays nearly four minutes per game on the power play and over a minute on the penalty kill per game, making him a solid all-around player that boosts his value and attractiveness for other teams to target him.

As far as Corsi and xGF%, DeBrusk is doing very well, but getting very unlucky with how many goals have gone in above expected when he has been on the ice. The cap is rising in the NHL and there are even contenders with plenty of cap room to make trades. Beyond even that, there are not many teams truly stuck in mediocrity and have as bad of a future outlook as the Canucks. DeBrusk may not be so harsh in holding onto that no-move clause tight.

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