Analyst links the Canucks to three very intriguing trade targets

Patrik Allvin and his management group are no doubt looking at every option they have this summer to improve their team and scouring the trade market is something they'll do.

There are several intriguing option on the trade market this summer and recently, Thomas Drance and Harman Dayal of The Athletic took a look at some players Patrik Allvin could trade for, breaking them down into the following tiers:

- Top targets
- The 'Only if the price is right' tier
- The 'we can't afford to part with that many assets' tier
- The 'hey, we like him if you need to make cap space' tier
- The mutual cap dump hockey-trade tier

The three top targets Drance and Dayal mention are Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nikolaj Ehlers of the Winnipeg Jets and Pavel Buchnevich of the St. Louis Blues. All three of those players are entering the final year of their respective contracts, but would each cost quite a bit, potentially one of Vancouver's top prospects - Jonathan Lekkerimaki or Tom Willander.

In the next tier, there's some interesting names that the Canucks could target for a lot cheaper including Patrik Laine (Columbus), Jordan Greenway (Minnesota), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (Carolina) and Mikael Granlund (San Jose).

The final tier we're going to look at it 'we can't afford to part with that many assets' because it features only one name and it's someone Canucks fans have been wanting desperately for a couple of weeks now - Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Necas is set to become a restricted free agent this summer and while contract talks may be ongoing with Carolina, it seems that the Czech forward would prefer a trade and would be a great fit for the Vancouver Canucks, but much like those in the first tier, the cost may be too much for Patrik Allvin and his group.

It'll be interesting to see what Patrik Allvin has up his sleeve in the coming weeks on the trade market and in free agency. With seven players from the NHL roster set to hit the open market on Monday, July 1st, the Canucks could look quite a bit different by the time puck drops in October.

Which of the following four players do you think the Canucks should trade for - Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine, Trevor Zegras, Pavel Buchnevich? Let us know what you think in the poll below.

Source: The Athletic:
Canucks trade target tiers: Ranking best fits for Vancouver on the offseason trade block