Going into the 2016 NHL trade deadline, Vancouver Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis and Calgary Flames blue-liner Kris Russell were two of the league’s top trade targets. It seemed as though the Dallas Stars were genuinely interested in Hamhuis, but they ended up trading for Russell instead. Hamhuis, on the other hand, stayed in Vancouver.
The second “must-trade” player was winger Radim Vrbata. He, too, stayed in Vancouver past the 2016 deadline.
As a result, there was a lot of negative energy among fans who weren’t satisfied with the job general manager Jim Benning did.