If there was a window to trade Elias Pettersson, it may have already shut right in the Vancouver Canucks‘ face. Coming off rough NHL seasons and facing even bigger concerns off the ice and inside the locker room due to his personality and recent rift with former teammate J.T. Miller, Pettersson’s trade value is nowhere near what it once was.
Still, it’s never zero, and players with 100-point seasons under their belts don’t grow on trees around the league. If offered for the right price, there may be a strong market for Pettersson, though his contract could raise other questions.
“I think there are teams that believe in a fresh start situation that they can get more out of [Pettersson],” Chris Johnston said on The Athletic Hockey Show. “And there’s just not a lot of ways to get centers.”
Pettersson is signed through the 2031-32 NHL season at a steep price. His fully protected contract carries an $11.6 million cap hit. If Vancouver wants to trade the Swedish centerman, it must be willing to retain a large portion of his salary. Otherwise, the Canucks won’t be headed anywhere in trade negotiations.
Elias Pettersson at the 2023 NHL All-Star Game.
Pettersson could be an option in thinned-out market
Trading Pettersson may no longer be profitable for the Canucks, who would have to clear several hurdles, and the end reward may not be worth it. However, it might be an option on the table.
Johnston noted the lack of centers available. Well, that aged poorly, as Dylan Larkin has flipped the market upside down with a trade request in Detroit. Still, the fact remains: aside from Larkin, Vincent Trocheck, and possibly Alex Tuch, teams in need of centers are dealing with a very thin catalog.
Canucks could accept trading Pettersson
Considering the organization has undergone several changes at every leadership level, parting ways with Pettersson is a possibility worth exploring, at the very least. For the time being, though, anything can happen in Vancouver.
The same argument could be used to make the case that the Sedins and GM Ryan Johnson will stick with Pettersson, and to suggest that the Canucks will ask their former fifth-overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft to waive his full no-movement clause (NMC).
Many will point out Vancouver should’ve thought better when it gave Pettersson such a deal and decided to stand by it through the final day before the no-trade clause kicked in. However, that was a different organization. For Henrik and Daniel Sedin, they must lie in a bed they didn’t make.
