Canucks and Coyotes complete blockbuster draft-day trade

Vancouver Canucks fans were looking forward to watching their team draft ninth overall in the NHL entry draft tonight, but that won’t be happening.

Instead, the fireworks came around three hours before the start of the draft courtesy of a blockbuster trade with the Arizona Coyotes.

Although the clubs haven’t made it official, multiple big-name insiders have confirmed the details of the trade.

HUGE trade between Vancouver and Arizona! pic.twitter.com/UCkTBnmqQq

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 23, 2021

Vancouver is sending the ninth-overall pick tonight to the Coyotes along with Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, a second-round pick in 2022 and a seventh-round pick in 2022.

In return, the Canucks are getting Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson, with Arizona retaining 12% of his large cap hit, and winger Connor Garland.

There are certainly mixed reactions to the deal from fans and hockey analysts.

To #Canucks:
-Ekman-Larsson: 6 years @ $8.25M ($990K retained)
-Garland RFA

To #Yotes
-Eriksson: 1 Year @ $6M
-Beagle: 1 Year @ $3M
-Roussel: 1 Year @ $3M
-'21 1st (#9)
-'22 2nd
-'23 7th#Canucks save $4.74M Net Cap Hit Yr 1 #Canucks add $7.26M Yrs 2-6https://t.co/2XY9vDLVHv

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 23, 2021

Ekman-Larsson was once a top-end defenceman in the NHL, but his play has been steadily declining over the past three seasons.

Unfortunately, he’s still being paid like a top NHL defenseman and even with the Coyotes retaining 12% of the salary, he’ll still count for 7.26 million against the Canucks salary cap for the next six years.

On the other hand, the three overpaid players that the Canucks are moving out are all on deals that expire at the end of the 2021-22 season.

If Ekman-Larsson can’t regain his previous form, it’s the type of deal that many feel is just kicking Vancouver’s salary cap issues down the line when the relief was coming after this season.

Garland is an exciting piece for the Canucks to add and he projects to be a great fit as a winger on captain Bo Horvat’s line, something the team has been targeting for quite some time.

Of course, giving up the ninth-overall pick means the team won’t be drafting a top prospect this evening, although it’s expected that GM Jim Benning is not done yet.