There was a trade made on Monday between two Pacific Division opponents moving in completely opposite directions. According to Rogers Sportsnet, the Vancouver Canucks have traded left winger Kiefer Sherwood of Columbus, Ohio to the San Jose Sharks for two draft picks and a minor league prospect.
Sportscasting’s Jeff Hawkins projected the deal would happen, but said Sherwood would “not be moved cheaply.” I think Canucks fans were hoping that GM Patrik Allvin would get more from Sherwood than what they got.
What are the Canucks specifically getting from the deal?
Vancouver is getting a second round pick in 2026, a second round pick in 2027, and defenseman Cole Clayton of Strathmore, Alberta. Clayton had five points in 33 games this past season with the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League and are now joining the Abbotsford Heat of the AHL. Clayton is familiar to playing high performance hockey in Western Canada as he played five seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League and one season with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Canucks definitely rebuilding
The Canucks are the worst team in the NHL right now with 37 points. They are ice cold as they have lost 11 straight games. On Monday night, they lost 4-3 to the New York Islanders. The Sherwood trade was made less than 48 hours after the Canucks were clobbered 6-0 by the Edmonton Oilers at home. There were literally thousands of Oilers jerseys in the stands.
This was the second Canucks trade made in the last five weeks. On December 12. the Canucks traded their star defenseman, Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a first round pick in 2026.
Sherwood Underrated
You have to look a little deeper than goals and assists in analyzing the value that Kiefer Sherwood had to the Canucks organization. That is because Sherwood is second in the NHL with 210 hits. The only player with more hits this season is Minnesota Wild center Yakov Trenin of Chelyabinsk, Russia with 249 hits. Sherwood also led the NHL in hits last season with 462 bodychecks.
In 44 games in 2025-26, Sherwood has 17 goals and six assists for 23 points. He is a -12 with 22 penalty minutes, 10 power-play points, one shorthanded point, two game-winning goals, 109 shots on goal, 13 faceoff wins, 21 blocked shots, 18 takeaways and 47 giveaways.
Team Grades
The general feeling is that the Canucks should have got more for Sherwood. In his new role in northern California, Sherwood will probably be expected to protect wonderkid Macklin Celebrini in key situations, and play an instrumental role on the Sharks checking lines. I am giving the Sharks an A for this deal and the Canucks a D.
