With the 2025 NHL Draft in the books and free agency just days away, the news and rumours mill will be kicking into overdrive. The Vancouver Canucks appear to have two big unrestricted free agents set to hit the market in Brock Boeser and Pius Suter, and as of this writing, it doesn’t look good on either of them returning to the West Coast. The Canucks did add to their coffers on Saturday with a solid draft class of hard-working culture setting prospects, led by 15th overall pick Braeden Cootes, but he’s at least a few years away from helping fill the holes that look to be opening on July 1. They also acquired another prospect (their fifth center in two days) from the Chicago Blackhawks to further bolster their pipeline, but again, he won’t help the cause right now.
Related: Meet the Canucks’ 2025 Draft Class: Reaction & Analysis
So, with all that said, let’s dive deeper into everything that went on over the last few days in the latest Canucks News & Rumours report.
The Brock Boeser Train Has Left the Station
Allvin said he talked to Boeser’s agent on Friday, but it still appears he is headed for free agency and a new city. Several teams have been rumoured as destinations, including his hometown Minnesota Wild, Canadian rivals Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs, and even a reunion with J.T. Miller under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden (from ‘Canucks: Brock Boeser reunion with J.T. Miller on Broadway a matter of dollars and sense,’ The Province, 6/18/25). Whatever team he decides to join, he will be paid handsomely, and likely long-term, something the Canucks didn’t seem to want to give him.
Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)
The Canucks’ 2015 first-round pick sits eighth in goals (204) and 12th in points (434) all time. If Boeser does end up signing with another team, his last goal, a power-play marker at home on April 5 against the Anaheim Ducks, will go down as the final time he will cheer after scoring for the blue and green. While we can never say he won’t return later in his career, he will be wearing an opposition jersey next season, which will look weird for fans, just like it did for Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison when they moved on.
Braeden Cootes Leads Hard-Working Canucks 2025 Draft Class
After rumours that the Canucks were going to trade their 15th overall pick and join the many teams that were wheeling and dealing on Saturday and Sunday, they ended up doing nothing and simply went through the draft process. They used every one of their six picks, starting with Cootes from the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds at 15th overall. They could have selected another Swede in Victor Eklund, but judging by the comments made by general manager Patrik Allvin, they got who they came for in Cootes.
“Braeden Cootes, captain in Seattle, our guys were very excited about him leading up to the meeting today, and we had a couple of guys that we were hoping were gonna be available at 15. You never know when you’re picking there, but when we were getting closer to the pick, Braeden was a guy the scouting staff was definitely very excited about, and so am I, to get a right shot centre, captain of Team Canada’s, gold medal team… I believe there is upside for him to be a middle six centre.”
– Allvin after selecting Cootes
The Canucks ended Day 1 with just Cootes, but added another five prospects on Day 2, starting with Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Memorial Cup champion Aleksei Medvedev and continuing with four other centers in Kieren Dervin (third round), Wilson Bjorck (fourth round), and Matthew Lansing (seventh round) with right winger Gabe Chiarot (sixth round) sandwiched in between Bjorck and Lansing. They all share similar traits: hard-working, high-motor players who are tough to play against.
“Well, I think if you watch the playoffs…that’s what happens when the chips are down,” Canucks amateur scouting director Todd Harvey explained Saturday. “I think that’s what we’re trying to do here: be annoying to play against, be hard to play against. And I think our players that we selected are that.”
Canucks Acquire Ilya Safonov From the Blackhawks
After wrapping up the 2025 Draft, the Canucks made another addition to their pipeline on Saturday, acquiring 24-year-old Russian Ilya Safonov from the Blackhawks for future considerations. The 6-foot-5 center has played the last four seasons strictly in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for Ak-Bars Kazan where he had a career-high 19 goals and 37 points in 2022-23. He was a sixth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2021 and will be joining development camp this week, although he will be returning to Russia for the 2025-26 season to finish out his contract.
Dobber Prospects describes Safonov as “A smart defense-first type player and an excellent penalty killer with a big frame that sees the ice well. He makes good decisions with and without the pick and tends to be in the right place at the right time; there is potential for more of a two-way player within the right situation.” He will likely top out as a third/fourth-line center like Nils Aman, but for future considerations, it’s a worthwhile swing on someone that the Blackhawks didn’t see as part of their rebuild.
Zachary Morin Will Join Canucks Development Camp After Going Undrafted
Continuing with the prospect news, the Canucks have also invited Zachary Morin to development camp, as per the Saint John Sea Dogs Twitter/X account:
Morin was eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft but didn’t get selected. He played 56 games for the Sea Dogs and finished with 16 goals and 36 points. He also played four games in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the Youngstown Phantoms where he recorded a single assist.
Ranked as high as 76th by Bob McKenzie and 124th by THW’s own Peter Baracchini, it’s a little surprising he went undrafted. Here is what THW’s Alex Hutton had to say about him in his draft profile:
“He sees the ice extremely well, and he’s not afraid to make tough and sometimes flashy passes, which regularly put his teammates in position to score when he completes them. However, his offensive game isn’t solely reliant on distribution, as he also puts up plenty of shots…He is a fast and agile skater despite being on the larger side, but he’s also willing to play a gritty style when needed. This combination of skill and toughness earned him time on both the power play and the penalty kill for Saint John.”
Morin can re-enter the draft next year, but it will be a great experience for the 18-year-old as he prepares for another season in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and eventually his freshman year at Boston University in 2026-27.
Free Agency Just Around the Corner
Since Allvin became GM in 2022, the Canucks have been active players in free agency, especially on July 1. With the high-end targets pretty much gone and the rest of the class being a weak one, I don’t foresee that continuing on Tuesday. They don’t need bottom-six players; they need a second-line center and top-scoring winger, two things that are in short supply on the free agent market. As such, it will probably be a quiet Canada Day in Canucks Nation, barring the unlikely signing of Nikolaj Ehlers or a magical turnaround in the Boeser saga.
