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Plus, wasn’t Duchene to the Canucks a thing earlier this season and didn’t insiders who discussed it walk it back or clarify that there wasn’t a lot to it?

I seem to recall such things.

One can’t dismiss a possibility ongoing Canucks interest is, well, engineered to help the AVs. As someone smart put it to me “Van is an easy target because they need a centre, there’s attendance issues and you get the sense there’s some desperation there.”

All of this said, the Canucks have long been interested in adding a centre and the Nuge hype earlier in the month was a part of that.

Another player to watch is Sam Reinhart. Talk the Sabres would look at trading Reinhart has been a thing for a while.

Well, Reinhart isn’t yet having a better year.

Perspective is so weird sometimes,.

He’s averaged 40-something points in his first two seasons and people out east are labelling him a disappointment.

If he did that in Van, they’d be calling him a legend.

The Canucks and Sabres already walked a possible Evander Kane trade quite a distance, so there’s been ground work laid.

There are conflicting stories from those Kane talks. Some say the Sabres wanted Hutton and the Canucks balked at offering him, others say Buffalo wasn’t interested in Hutton as a centrepiece.

The puzzle does fit better here than a Duchene deal. The Sabres need goal scoring wingers.

Could you construct a deal with Hutton in it and, let’s say, Goldobin? Would that be intriguing?

Feels light to me, but others I know think it has legs.

Some also believe there exists a chance Baertschi is moved in a deal for a C.

I tend not to think that could be the case. My gut feeling is Baertschi doesn’t have a ton of value in the trade market.

Someone smart suggested to me that he has more value on the Canucks than he’d ever have in a trade — I do agree.

Same person also said they are kept up at night often wondering what would happen to Horvat’s defensive game without Baestchi on his line.

Probably not good things.