Canucks want to trade 2 Olympians before NHL deadline

The most obvious players that are trade candidates for any rebuilding team are the guys heading for unrestricted free agency.

The Vancouver Canucks have at least two such forwards that fit the bill and will likely be moved by the NHL's March 6 trade deadline.

Teddy Blueger, who played for Latvia at the Olympics, and David Kampf, who played for Czechia, are those two candidates for the Canucks.

The Athletic's Thomas France wrote Monday about how both of them make sense to be traded.

"It doesn’t appear as if Kämpf or Blueger’s strong performances for their countries at the Olympics had a material impact on either player’s projected trade value or the level of interest in their services," France writes. "What’s probably more important for the Canucks, however, is that both depth centres have returned from the Olympics fully healthy and ready to go. That will help simplify a pair of trades that the Canucks really must find a way to execute."

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Guys like Blueger and Kampf aren't trade deadline winners for contending teams. They are solid depth pickups, though, because they have proven they can play at the NHL level.

The last thing a contender wants is for one injury to ruin their season. Adding veteran depth can protect against that.

"Based on what I’m hearing, there’s a level of general interest for teams in adding centre depth on the trade market," France writes. "Blueger and Kampf aren’t starry additions and aren’t likely to net the Canucks a haul, but Vancouver should be able to garner a couple of additional mid-round picks in return for the two expiring unrestricted free agent centres."

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Vancouver is expected to be busy in the next week-plus on the trade market. Evander Kane is a strong possibility to move, too.

They already traded away Quinn Hughes, of course. That might've been the biggest domino, but it was far from the only one.

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