At this point, it seems to be a matter of when, and not if, the Vancouver Canucks trade Bo Horvat.

The Canucks are outside of the playoff picture in the Western Conference, and the season to this point has been a massive disappointment. Horvat is also in the final year of his current contract and is a pending unrestricted free agent after the 2022-23 season.

There is certainly the possibility that he could re-sign and commit long-term to the Canucks, but contract talks have reportedly not gone well to this point. That could make Horvat one of the most attractive options as the March trade deadline approaches.

After scoring a career-high 31 goals (in only 70 games) during the 2021-22 season, Horvat has already scored 22 in 30 games entering Monday, putting him on a 60-goal pace over 82 games.

Maybe that number goes down a little if and when his shooting percentage (currently 22.7 percent) starts to regress, but he is still having a magnificent year and has developed into a bonafide top-line center. Any team in the league would be happy to add him for the stretch run and the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Back in October, we did an initial look at teams that could be interested, so let’s follow up on that and try to see who could make sense and who should be interested.

Colorado Avalanche

The defending Stanley Cup champions have two big problems this season.

The first is that they still could use a replacement for last year’s No. 2 center, Nazem Kadri, following his departure to the Calgary Flames as an unrestricted free agent.

The second is that they have been absolutely decimated by injuries so far, with Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin and several other players all missing significant time.

That combination has left the Avalanche as a middle-of-the-pack team in the Western Conference as they head into the holiday weekend.

It is not where they want to be or where they expect to be. Getting healthy will certainly fix a lot of their problems, but if they are going to compete for the Stanley Cup again, they could certainly use an upgrade down the middle behind MacKinnon.

Horvat would be a dream of a solution.

Colorado has depleted a lot of its draft capital this year and next year, owning just eight picks combined in the 2023 and 2024 drafts. Only two of those picks (each of their next two first-rounders) are in the top-three rounds of either class. That can certainly limit what they can do, as will the salary cap situation.

If there were a chance for Colorado to trade for then extend Horvat, somebody like Alex Newhook would be an intriguing centerpiece for a deal, but that might be a steep price to pay for a potential rental, given Newhook’s upside.

Either way, Colorado should be in the market for a second-line center upgrade, and Horvat would be ideal.

Boston Bruins

Let’s get bold here.

The Bruins have two outstanding centers right now in Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, but it is a position they do not have much long-term depth at.

There is no guarantee that either player will be back next season, which could leave a glaring hole down the middle for Boston.

Could this be an opportunity for the Bruins to do what they did at the deadline a year ago with defenseman Hampus Lindholm, where they acquire a “rental” player at a position of need at the trade deadline and then immediately work out a new long-term contract?

Horvat would not only give the Bruins some incredible scoring depth in the short term and greatly improve their chances for a Stanley Cup run this season, but that scenario could also satisfy a serious long-term need. Not many clubs would be able to matchup with Bergeron, Krejci and Horvat down the middle in this year’s playoffs.

The Bruins also have a ton of money coming off the books after this season, with only 12 players currently under contract for the 2023-24 season.

The issue Boston would run into with that sort of deal, however, would be coming up with an offer that Vancouver wants. The Bruins’ farm system is one of the thinnest in the NHL, and while Fabian Lysell and John Beecher are intriguing prospects, neither really projects to be a top-line player at this point.