He is a solid player, I'm not saying he isn't. But 5 mil for a 3rd liner that doesn't have size or PK is less than ideal. If we can trade him for a player who can impact our top 4 F or top4 D, I'm totally fine with that. Look at the canucks roster, there is nobody else that you can do that with.
3rd liners don't score 50 ES points while carrying the second line, that's 1st line/star player production.
Players who also scored roughly that same amount that season were Reinhart, Debrincat, Hischier, Tkachuk, Aho, Marchand - this isn't a list of 3rd liners.
He slumped for one year but other than that he scores like a first line player, drives his line, and draws more penalties than almost anyone else on the team. He was a huge reason our team was successful this year.