It Is Now Known Who the Vancouver Canucks Want to Acquire This Offseason to Replace Former 40-Goal Scorer

Heading into the summer, the Vancouver Canucks have a number of things they'd like to get done and one of those will be to land a second line centerman, something they tried to do before the trade deadline last month.

There certainly won't be a shortage of options if Patrik Allvin decides to go down the free agent route, however if they opt for a trade, who could they target?

In a recent mailbag article on The Athletic, Vancouver Canucks reporter Thomas Drance was asked about potential trade targets for the team in the offseason.

Drance shared three centermen at different stages of their respective National Hockey League careers that could be worth pursuing and among them is Steven Stamkos, who is in his first season as a member of the Nashville Predators.

Stamkos does have a bit of history with Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet as he spent parts of two seasons as the bench boss in Tampa Bay, including the two-time Stanley Cup champion's first 50-goal campaign in the National Hockey League in 2009-10.

So far this season, his first since leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning, Stamkos has seen a pretty sizeable drop in production - 47 points (25 goals, 22 assists) in 77 games after registering three straight seasons of 80+ points.

Stamkos' shot is something the Vancouver Canucks desperately need, especially on the power play and in their top-six and if Brock Boeser ends up leaving on July 1st, they'll need to replace his production and the Markham, Ontario native can do just that.

There are two major hurdles standing between the Vancouver Canucks and trading for Steven Stamkos, those being his full no-movement clause and his $8 million salary annually, which would be tricky to add.

Whether it's Steven Stamkos, which is a longshot, Sam Bennett or someone else in free agency, it seems like there's a good chance the Vancouver Canucks will head into the 2025-26 season with an upgrade at the second line center role.

Source: Thomas Drance/The Athletic
Canucks trade targets, and could we see an offer sheet? Mailbag, part 1