Penguins and Canucks linked in trade talks and it's NOT about Bo Horvat

Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin have a TON of work to do overhauling their team's roster ahead of the NHL's trade deadline and they may be ringing up their old buddies in Pittsburgh to kick things off.

Rutherford and Allvin have given forward Brock Boeser and his agent Ben Hankinson permission to seek opportunities elsewhere and many suspect that Boeser will be shipped out of Vancouver before season's end. Blogger Shane Seney predicts that Boeser could be headed to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a potential blockbuster deal.

From Seney:

- Shane Seney

First off, there's NO way that the Canucks would want Kasperi Kapanen back in a Boeser trade. Why would they? He's just a B-level Boeser on an overpriced deal. Oh... he's also older than Boeser. For a team looking to recoup picks and prospects for their top players, why would they make a deal that actually makes them older and worse?

Now, P.O. Joseph and Ty Smith are both intriguing and likely will pique the interest of Rutherford/Allvin. Honestly, I think that Seney has the pieces of a potential deal here but I just can't imagine the Canucks wanting to take on Kapanen in a potential deal. A package of picks and prospects may be enough to get a deal done, but that's assuming that the Penguins have the cap space to take on Boeser's full $6.5 million salary... which they don't. Again, I can't imagine the Canucks are too interested in eating any off Boeser's contract either. They've been completely wrecked by the salary cap situation that former GM Jim Benning put them in, so I can't imagine that they want to continue to retain and take on salary in moves that are meant to free them up of commitments.