Canucks Turned Down This Strong Offer for Kiefer Sherwood

Vancouver Canucks forward Kiefer Sherwood

The Vancouver Canucks' pending unrestricted free agent Kiefer Sherwood is on the trade block, and they've been taking offers from teams all over the league.

The New York Rangers are one of those teams that put a deal on the table recently.

But their announcement on Friday that they're now into a 'retool' period makes it sort of doubtful that they'll be buying in on a 30-year-old player who is in such high demand at the deadline, and is on an expiring contract. Nevertheless, before they came to this decision, they did make a strong pitch to Vancouver for the gritty, physical forward.

Insider Chris Johnston revealed on TSN's Insider Trading that the Rangers had this offer turned down by the Canucks:

What the Rangers put on the table, I’m told, for trying to get Sherwood out of Vancouver was a young player with pedigree and a second-round pick.
That wasn’t good enough to get it done recently. I think that tells us a lot about how Vancouver views the guy.

The Canucks are driving a hard bargain for the NHL's Hit King. Sherwood set an all-time record with 462 hits last season, while also scoring 19 goals. He's on pace to blow that goal mark away this year, with 17 thus far, while still punishing opponents with 210 hits to this point.

And while the Rangers' strong offer couldn't get it done, the Canucks will hold out for another offer of similar or greater return. But are they biting off more than they can chew with those demands?

They've been hoping to get a first-round pick in return, but the fact is, teams are likely holding onto their first-rounders for the really big fish in the trade deadline pool, like Artemi Panarin, Nazem Kadri, or Rasmus Andersson.

"Sherwood certainly could be moved soon," concluded Johnston. "Some of the teams around the league are hoping the price drops, though, in order to make that happen."