Rutherford: Top-6 forward on Canucks deadline radar

Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford identified the top of the club's forward group as a potential area of need leading up to the March 8 trade deadline.

"I think as we speak, if we were able to add another top-six forward, that would give us a better chance," Rutherford told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun earlier this week. "And you know, we'll watch the defense as we go along here. But you know, for the most part, our defense has done a pretty good job."

The Canucks lead the Pacific Division and are second in the league standings at 28-11-3 midway through the campaign. Vancouver's surge under head coach Rick Tocchet has put it in a position to buy ahead of the trade deadline, as a trip to the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2015 appears inevitable.

Although the Canucks lead the NHL in goals (164), their success has come from a top-heavy attack. Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Brock Boeser dominate the top line and operate at better than a point-per-game pace for the season. However, Vancouver's next most productive forward is Ilya Mikheyev at 22 points. Blue-liners Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek rank third and fifth, respectively, in team scoring.

The Canucks have already made a handful of trades since training camp opened in September. In four different deals, the club shipped out Tanner Pearson and Anthony Beauvillier and acquired Sam Lafferty and Nikita Zadorov.

The wheeling and dealing from general manager Patrik Allvin has left the Canucks with approximately $332,000 in cap space, according to Cap Friendly.

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