Vancouver Canucks And Arizona Coyotes Strike A Big Deal

The Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes have made a monstrous trade. The Coyotes are sending Conor Garland and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the Canucks for the 9th overall pick, Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, Antoine Roussel, a 2022 2nd round pick and 2023 7th round pick. The Coyotes will also be retaining 12% OEL's contract. This is the type of trade you simply can't predict.

So the full deal is:
OEL and Garland for Roussel, Eriksson, Beagle, the 9th overall pick, 2nd RD pick in 2022 and 7th pick in 2023. And Arizona retains 12 percent of OEL.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 23, 2021

With this trade, the Vancouver Canucks are ridding of three players who once were thought to be unmovable because of their immensely overpaid contracts. By doing this, it makes sense that they are losing their first-round pick tonight, too. In total, the Coyotes will be taking in $12 million of cap for three, at best, bottom-six forwards.

Garland is a solid top-six winger who is coming off of a very good season with the Coyotes. In 49 games this year, he scored 12 goals and had recorded 39 total points. He also is only 25-years-old and is a restricted free agent. The Canucks should be aiming to give him a contract that comes with a few years, as he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency soon.

The Coyotes have been trying to move Ekman-Larson since last off-season, but he would only accept a trade to Canucks or Boston Bruins. Thankfully this time around, he's actually getting his wish. The Coyotes now have that large contract off their hands. However, OEL may be able to bounce back this season and take on a top-four role with his new team. With Quinn Hughes being their top-pair, left-handed defenseman, there's far less pressure on OEL to be the guy on the backend.

So basically, the Canucks have not only gotten rid of a significant chunk of their bad contracts, but actually brought in better players with it. The lone risk of the move for them is OEL's contract potentially not aging well. He has six years left on his current deal.

The Coyotes, on the other hand, have gotten themselves back into the first-round for tonight's Entry Draft. They only have to eat these contracts for this season and are rebuilding anyway, so it's totally fine for them.

My word, though! What a crazy day for the NHL!