NHL insider shares the actual reason the Vancouver Canucks traded Tanner Pearson

The Vancouver Canucks made a move on Tuesday to become cap compliant with training camp set to open this week. Vancouver traded winger Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for goalie Casey DeSmith.

The move became a necessity with Pearson healing from his hand injuries earlier than Vancouver anticipated. Pearson has one year remaining with a cap hit of $3.25M. DeSmith also has one year remaining with a cap hit of $1.8M. The Canucks now have $503,333 in cap space available with defenceman Tucker Poolman going on LTIR.

The 31 year old Pearson has had an excruciating recovery the last couple years dealing with his hand injuries. According to a report from Rick Dhaliwal, Pearson has had 6-7 surgeries so far.




Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman thinks the trade was best case scenario for all involved. He detailed as much in his 32 Thoughts piece:


https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/32-thoughts-whats-next-for-the-blue-jackets/

In the end Pearson gets out of Vancouver where the trust is broken between himself and the medical staff and the Canucks save a little bit of money. They can now also give a bigger role to some of the younger players on the team like Nils Hoglander, Conor Garland and Vasili Podkolzin.