With the trade deadline less than a month away and the Vancouver Canucks still outside of the playoff picture in the Pacific Division, a decision will have to be made soon about whether they will be sellers or buyers come Mar. 21. Everyone not named Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko has been discussed as potential trade bait at one point or another, so it will be interesting to see which players are still part of the team when the clock strikes 3 pm ET.

In the last part of this series, I explored the possibility of the Canucks acquiring one of the many talented right-defencemen the Los Angeles Kings have in their pipeline. This time, defencemen will remain a target as we move from the Pacific to the Central Division.

Travelling from the bright lights of Hollywood to the heights of the Rocky Mountains, here are a couple of youngsters the Canucks should target from the surprisingly deep pool of the Colorado Avalanche.

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Bowen Byram

Bowen Byram has had a difficult run to this point in his career with concussions. His first one came in February of 2021 and his latest after an elbow from Bo Horvat in a game in November against the Canucks. He returned for two games a few weeks later and five in January, but ultimately took a leave of absence from the Avalanche because of lingering symptoms.

I can’t do it. I can’t play and feel like this.

Bowen Byram reportedly told his parents before taking a leave of absence

Fortunately, according to a report by Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now, Byram has resumed skating and looks like he is on the road back to the NHL (from ‘Avs Wrap: Byram Keeps Skating, How Much Should Kuemper Play Down the Stretch?’, Colorado Hockey Now, 3/2/22). For his sake, I hope these concussion issues are a thing of the past and he can resume doing what he loves, and that’s playing hockey.

Before his latest concussion – his third overall, Byram was in the early conversation for the Calder Trophy after recording five goals and 11 points in his first 18 games. He was the fourth-overall pick by the Avalanche in the 2019 Draft, the same year the Canucks selected Vasily Podkolzin 10th. Vancouver hockey fans will also likely remember him from his time with the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League (WHL) where he accumulated 46 goals and 150 points in 188 games including a career-high 26 goals and 71 points during his draft year in 2018-19.