With the off-season starting up soon, trade targets are becoming a huge buzz around the NHL ahead of the draft. Teams that want to go further in the playoffs are always looking to shed poor contracts, as they can sometimes be a huge reason a team is being held back. The Vancouver Canucks are getting ahead of their bad contract issues, as they're looking to shed a big contract of someone who underperformed in the previous season.
The Canucks have been working hard to move Mikheyev, and there have been some teams who would be interested in taking him on. Mikheyev has been overpaid in Vancouver, and the two sides seem to be willing to move on. Some reports have said that Vancouver will have to attach an asset onto him to move him, due to his terrible contract.
Mikheyev is currently making 4.75M a year for the next two seasons, which is enough to make it a poor contract for his play. Mikheyev had only 31 points in 78 games this past season, and 28 points in 46 games the prior season. He also had 0 points in 11 playoff games this year, and is just not a good fit for the Canucks.
It was actually the Canucks who had ruined his time there, as he only played 46 games in the 2022-23 season due to an ACL tear he suffered all the way back in the preseason. Despite that the Canucks continued to play him, leading to him reaggravating his ACL injury.
This may be why Mikheyev is fine to move on from the team, as they really could have derailed his career by not letting him sit and getting him help. Hopefully he can go to another team and play well enough again to justify his pricy contract.
