As the Christmas trade freeze goes into effect this Thursday at midnight, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins Gino Reda to discuss the Canucks’ positional needs and the status of extension negotiations between the Blue Jackets and the defender. Ivan Provorovand how his younger brother Vladimir could make things interesting.

Reda: The Christmas trading freeze goes into effect this Thursday at midnight, so teams that want to do something should go for it.


With this in mind, here is our Insider Pierre LeBrun and Pierre, after a few somewhat disappointing months at the start of the season, the Vancouver Canucks are just beginning to hold on to a prominent place in the West. We know they want to become buyers, are we starting to get a better idea of ​​what they are trying to buy?



Le Brun: Yes, they are making their calls and word is getting around when you talk to different sources around the league about why the Canucks are calling.


Certainly, a major need has been identified: a top-four defender. He’s certainly the flagship of the Canucks, but also a winger.


They’re looking for both, and the top-4 defenseman isn’t surprising. Obviously, the team hasn’t been the same since Filip Hronek was injured and is out for a long time. He will be back before the end of the season but, despite that, the Canucks plan to try to trade for a top-four defenseman. There, they need depth.


The one thing about the Canucks, Jim Rutherford is the president of hockey operations, Patrik Allvin is the general manager – the tradition and desire of Rutherford to try to trade well before the deadline is well established, and the last year, on January 31, they got a head start on the market Elias Lindholm and I traded for him so early.


So, it certainly wouldn’t surprise me, if the Canucks are able to find a top-four defenseman and winger, let them get there sooner rather than later.


Obviously it has to be cap-wise and fit-wise, but the Canucks certainly make their decisions, so I think they now understand what their team is through the ups and downs they’ve had known this year, and I think they We are ready to act here if they succeed.



Reda: All right, you opened the door for me here, so let me walk through it.


For a while now, it’s been looking like if you were looking for a top four defenseman, the Columbus Blue Jackets‘ Ivan Provorov was going to be available to the highest bidder. The 27-year-old is in the final year of his contract before he can become a free agent this summer, but now there’s an interesting twist to this story, Pierre?



Le Brun: It may still be being processed, but there’s definitely a new twist. His younger brother, Vladimir Provorov, who is just 16, was announced Monday that he had committed to Ohio State University.


I spoke today with Ivan’s agent, Mark Gandler, who is also the Provorov family advisor and what Gandler told me is that these are obviously separate business decisions . We have to be careful here, but the two brothers are very close and the reason the younger brother committed to Ohio State is because they spend a lot of time in Columbus and the Provorov family really likes Columbus.


Now, he won’t stay at Ohio State for two or three years because he’s only 16, but it’s an interesting twist to all of this. One of the things Gandler told me today is that Provorov loves it in Columbus and that they are “open” to extension discussions with the Blue Jackets if that’s something the Blue Jackets would like. consider.


The door is certainly open, there have yet to be any contract negotiations between Provorov’s camp and Don Waddell, the Blue Jackets general manager, but I suspect that conversation will happen at some point during the new year.


I think ultimately it’s good for both parties to have an open mind about continuing this relationship, but what does that mean in terms of agreeing to an extension? What is the number?


We know from our Board of Governors meeting last week that the salary cap will increase. Exactly how high this goes remains to be seen, but it is increasing.


One of the things I feel, when I talk to agents and front offices around the league right now, is that the agents and front offices are not quite on the same page yet in many cases as to what this will look like. like, in terms of the financial landscape.


So yes, the agent is officially with me. Provorov is open to discussing an extension with the Blue Jackets, but what does that number look like?


I still think, all things being fair, that the Blue Jackets’ number, both for duration and average annual value, will obviously be lower than that of Provorov, who plays 23 minutes a night and turns 28 next month, which its figure could be July 1 on the free market.


There just aren’t many top-four defensemen hitting the market on July 1st. I don’t know if they can bridge the gap. Ultimately, at the very least, the young Provorov committing to Ohio State is no small thing, so we’ll see where this goes.



Reda: The Blue Jackets have a lot of work to do on the blue line right now, they currently only have three regular defensemen signed beyond next season.