NHL Rumors: Canucks Only Have 2 Untouchables

The Vancouver Canucks may have won two games in a row and are 5-4-1 in their past 10, but they still dug themselves a huge hole to get out of. This means they are going to remain on trade watch as a number of players could be traded out of Vancouver.

Elliotte Friedman said the team only has two untouchables, Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson. That's very interesting considering J.T. Miller was just re-signed to a seven-year extension. Though it could sometimes be difficult to move a player with many years remaining on his deal at a large cap hit, Miller is well worth it considering what he did last season and his stat line already this season.

The other very shocking name is Thatcher Demko. Regardless of how the season has started, he is a great young goaltender that the Canucks have developed. His game has started to come around and he showed the past few seasons how important he is to the team. Young starting goaltenders are hard to come by and they should hold onto him. His trade value would be set very high, even with the stats he's posted this season.

Then there are the likely trade candidates in Bo Horvat, Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, Tyler Myers, and Luke Schenn. If the team does continue to lose and is out of the race, I wouldn't be surprised if any or all of them are moved. That would really kickstart a rebuild fast. The other player the Canucks would like to move is Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Rumours are he hasn't been willing to waive his no-trade clause, so it is difficult to move that salary since he hasn't performed to the level of his contract.

Then there are the pair of young players in Nils Hoglander and Vasily Podkolzin who have had a tough time this season. They have a combined one goal and six points through 29 combined games this season. Ideally they would be given time to grow and the Canucks wouldn't give up on them.