Canucks and Bruins targeting same player this summer.

The upcoming National Hockey League offseason is going to be a challenging one for several general managers around the league, but that will be especially true of teams who find themselves in a bidding war for a particular player.

That could very well be the case this summer for both Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney and Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin, both of whom may be very interested in a certain restricted free agent that does not appear to be a on a path to a new deal with his current team.

Recently, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed his belief that both the Bruins and the Canucks are likely to have significant interest in Carolina Hurricanes restricted free agent Martin Necas.

"I do believe it's something these two teams talked about," said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "I do think it's likely he gets moved, I just think that him and the Hurricanes don't see each other in the same value."

As far as the Bruins are concerned, Friedman has indicated that he believes the trade would have included Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark as part of the package.

"I do believe the Bruins and the Hurricanes talked about an Ullmark deal," confirmed Friedman.

The complication there of course is that Ullmark controls his fate with a limited no trade clause and could in theory block a trade to Carolina if the team appears as one of the names on his list.

As mentioned though the Bruins aren't alone in the mix here and it sounds like the Canucks were swinging some big names around in a potential trade with the Hurricanes as well.

"Remember when all that Petersson drama hit about whether he was gonna sign or not sign and Vancouver talked with Carolina?" asked Friedman. "Necas was in that deal... and I just wonder if there's a Necas deal to be made there with Vancouver."

Either way it sounds like the Bruins and the Canucks may not even be the only interested parties, with Friedman indicating his belief that there could be a lot of teams around the league smelling blood in the water around the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Necas.

"I think there's a lot of teams that are going to be looking at Necas and trying to find out what he wants... he's a good player," said Friedman.