The day barely began and two household names had already switched teams.

First, the Toronto Maple Leafs Patrick Marleau, as well as first- and seventh-round picks to the Carolina Hurricanes for a six-rounder.

Moments later, the Nashville Predators dealt PK Subban to the New Jersey Devils.

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1142473057682042880

Both moves have heavy salary cap implications, and that’s the main reason they were made.

Marleau has another year on his deal at $6.25 million and needs to be paid out $3 million in real money in the form of salary bonus.

Subban has three more years left on his contract at $9 million per.

The Canucks were rumoured to be in the market for Subban, but that price tag isn’t great. That’s obviously why the return was pretty middling for the Predators. Vancouver needs to stay away from big money with a lot of term, which is why many Canucks fans are probably a bit relieved that their team wasn’t in the market for the former Norris Trophy winner.

But it’s the Marleau deal that has many Canucks fans wondering “Why not us?”

Vancouver has a lot of cap space right now (and will until they have to re-sign players like Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes down the line), and could have taken on Marleau’s deal.

They also could have used more draft picks, especially a first-rounder. Maybe the Canucks’ ownership group didn’t want to take on dead money in the forms of bonuses and a buyout for Marleau (Carolina has said they will play the former Leaf if he will play for them, but it’s thought he wants to go back to San Jose and nothing else).

The Canucks have also seemed quite averse to weaponizing their cap space in the past, and they will no doubt be vilified for being hesitant to doing so once again.

It was a savvy move for the Hurricanes, and most fans around the league probably hope their team could have pulled off something similar. Count the Vancouver faithful among them.

Follow @ncaddell on Twitter