Suggested Trade Sees Canucks Land Killorn, Vatrano in Deal With Ducks

The Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks should have different goals this season. The Canucks should be preparing to play their young guys and have a rough season as they continue through a tough rebuild, while the Ducks should be looking to build on a playoff run last season. However, some offer sheet drama involving Leo Carlsson has affected the Ducks’ plans.

After matching the massive offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, which now makes Carlsson the highest-paid player in the NHL at $18 million annually, the Ducks are going to be forced to move out some money to improve other parts of their lineup, specifically their defensisve depth.

I recently wrote about how the Ducks could land Morgan Rielly from the Toronto Maple Leafs without any retention, but for that to come to fruition, the Ducks have to make a couple other moves, especially since they have to extend restricted free agent forward Cutter Gauthier.

Theoretically, trading both Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano should give the Ducks enough cap space to lock up Gauthier and add Rielly, but even if Rielly isn’t the target they want, moving those two forwards out should give them the space they need to complete the other pieces of business that are required before the 2026-27 season kicks off.

The Ducks will have to make some decisions with their forward group, but their priority should be on improving their blue line after losing Radko Gudas, Olen Zellweger, and Jacob Trouba. However, to do that, they need to find some money.

In this article, we take a look at a hypothetical deal sending both Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano to the Canucks. Keep in mind, this is simply a hypothetical deal, and while there has been some speculation that the Canucks could be open to taking on contracts, there are no reports indicating the two sides have spoken about a deal like this.

Canucks Add Veterans, Ducks Clear Cap Space

Killorn is 36 years old and is an unrestricted free agent after the 2026-27 season, while Vatrano is 32 years old and is extended through the 2027-28 season. Killorn does have a 15-team no-trade list, while Vatrano has a 7-team no-trade list, so this deal assumes both of them would be open to joining the Canucks.

The Ducks wouldn’t be getting much in return, since this is simply supposed to be a cap dump that allows them to make other moves. This would hurt their forward depth a bit, but sacrificing two forwards for a defensive improvement and to make sure they keep Gauthier should be an easy decision.

Realistically, the Canucks acquire Killorn and Vatrano in exchange for the Canucks 2027 fifth-round pick. Maybe, the Ducks can convince the Canucks to toss in right-shot defender Jack Thompson to add some organizational defensive depth, but it seems more likely than not that it’s just one draft pick coming back.

This deal gives the Canucks some veteran depth in their bottom-six forward group and adds some internal competition for younger players like Liam Öhgren, Aatu Räty, and Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Killorn could be someone that the Canucks flip at the 2027 Trade Deadline for more assets if he has a solid start to the season, which could look like solid asset management from their new management group.

We will see what happens, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see both Killorn and Vatrano traded before the season got going, and the Canucks make sense as a fit for both of them.

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