NHL Trade Rumors: Vancouver Canucks interested in Jason Zucker

According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the list of Jason Zucker’s suitors has grown. Mike Halford of TSN 1040 is reporting the Vancouver Canucks have interest in him. 

The saga between the Minnesota Wild and Jason Zucker is one of the must-watch storylines of the NHL offseason. He has nearly been traded twice in 2019, once to the Calgary Flames at the trade deadline and once to the Pittsburgh Penguins a few weeks ago. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the Vancouver Canucks have expressed interest in him as well.

This report comes from Mike Halford from TSN 1040. You can listen to the segment here. The Zucker talk begins around the 14:30 mark. Additionally, The Vancouver Sun wrote an article explaining that the Canucks are in the market for a top-six forward.

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They asked about Zucker earlier this year, but the asking price was Brock Boeser, according to The Vancouver Sun. Obviously, the Canucks rejected that.

On top of that, The Athletic (subscription required) has Zucker ranked sixth on their trade bait list. TSN has him ranked third on theirs as well.

Halford noted in his segment that the team has a variety of packages on the table for Zucker, so perhaps the Wild have moved on from their initial ask of Boeser.

Zucker makes sense for the Canucks for several reasons. First of all, while their defense is the greater area of need, the Canucks could also use some scoring depth. Zucker’s a reliable goal scorer who can also play a 200-foot game.

Bo Horvat is a great shutdown center who has put up impressive point totals despite his role. Giving him a wing like Zucker would make him even more efficient and would make Vancouver a better team.

Secondly, if you look at Wild general manager Paul Fenton‘s brief trade history, there are already some head-scratchers. Specifically, take a look at the Nino Niederreiter trade. When Fenton has tried to trade players who are coming off down years, he has struck out. Zucker is coming off a down year, so history could repeat itself. The Canucks should bank on that happening.

Furthermore, the Wild are probably under immense pressure to trade him, as they’ve already nearly done so twice. The Canucks should be all over Zucker, though he would not be a typical Jim Benning acquisition.

Zucker has a cap hit of $5.5 million for each of the next four seasons. While his contract runs past 2021, which is when both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes will need significant pay raises if all goes according to plan, his cap hit shouldn’t prohibit a long-term commitment to both players.