Canucks Urged To Trade Brock Boeser — And Fast: Analyst

Brock Boeser has been a Vancouver Canuck for 10 years now. But as a pending UFA, his time in Vancouver seemed to be coming to an end entering last summer, until the two sides surprisingly re-upped on the first day of free agency on a seven-year extension with a $7.25M AAV. Now, however, after just Year 1 of the seven-year deal, and the Canucks in all-out rebuild, the rumors could pick up again. 

TSN analyst Travis Yost has done some serious digging into the analytics and writes that, after the player put up another disappointing season last year, the Canucks need to look at trading Boeser before it's too late.

I think Boeser, 29, is better than he’s shown in the past couple of years (injuries have not helped here) but dealing a player whose best days are likely behind him should be on the board for Vancouver. Teams around the league see a guy who scored 40 goals as recently as two seasons ago, but longer-term trends suggest that sort of production might be in the rear-view mirror forever.

Yost points out that Boeser’s even-strength scoring has "considerably slowed," while his power-play production last season "was also near a career low."

Delving even deeper into the stats, he reveals (via Evolving Hockey) that Boeser’s percentile rank amongst forwards in Goals Above Replacement sunk into the negatives this past season, at -0.5%. Needless to say, on a scale of 0-100, a minus number is never good. 

Why the Canucks should cash in on Boeser FAST

Even given all that, Yost urges that time is of the essence for Vancouver. With a surrounding cast that's completely bottoming out, his numbers likely won't be getting any better as this rebuild unfolds this season.

"Boeser is 29, coveted around the league, and playing on a team that’s going to get worse before it gets better. Given the fact we have likely seen his best years already, does the timeline of keeping Boeser around make sense, or is he the coveted trade asset you cash in on to accelerate the quality of this rebuild?

"I suspect the business case of shipping Boeser out is more compelling than the case for keeping him around."

Of course, this is all easier said than done, as the player has a full no-movement clause for the next three years, before it reverts to a 15-team no-trade list.