Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis says his team is not interested in acquiring a rental player or giving up one of their top prospects in a trade.
“We don’t like doing that [getting a rental player],” he told the TEAM 1040 on Thursday. “We’ve done it in the past, it hasn’t worked.
“We like players we think we can sign and keep that are going to be a long-term solution, not a short-term solution. Fitting those guys into your team in a meaningful way with three or four weeks left in the season is really difficult to do.”
Gillis is alluding to the success of the Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre acquisitions in 2011 and the subsequent failed Samuel Pahlsson and Derek Roy trades in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
“If we can address a need, we’ll definitely do it. But if it’s not there, it’s not there,” he added. ”We’re not giving away some of our young prospects that we have in a deal.”
This means the likes of Bo Horvat, Hunter Shinkaruk, Brendan Gaunce, and Nicklas Jensen are not available.
“We gave up a lot to get a guy like Bo Horvat. We’re not giving him up. I think he’s going to play in this league for ten-to-15 years without a problem and be a very good player.”
The NHL’s trade deadline is March 5, a week after the Olympic break, at 12 p.m. Pacific time.
Trade Gaunce if you can get something back...