The Vancouver Canucks came close to trading star centerman Elias Pettersson, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. Friedman shared that Vancouver was engaged in trade talks with the Carolina Hurricanes that advanced a serious enough point that Vancouver was forced to make a decision – ultimately opting to take another pass at extending the top-scoring 25-year-old. News of the trade talks was enough to inspire Pettersson to allow his representative Pat Brisson to continue discussing a new deal in Vancouver. The two sides remain steadfast on finding an extension, as reported earlier this week.
While Pettersson rumors have swirled around in light of few extension talks, there has yet to be serious weight to any trade talks. That’s now changed, as the Canucks inched towards dealing their star to one of the NHL’s premier teams. There’s no doubting that any deal involving Pettersson would go down in history. The young forward has 29 goals and 75 points in just 61 games this season, scoring at an 82-game pace of 39 goals and 101 points. That would fall just narrowly short of the career-high Pettersson recorded last season, when he managed 39 goals and 102 points in 80 games.
Pettersson’s scoring this season leads all U26 players in the NHL, ahead of major names like Cale Makar, Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, and Tim Stutzle. Speculating a price for such one of the league’s top players is never an easy feat – and Pettersson’s case is made even more difficult by the lack of clear assets on either side. The most recent comparable deal is likely when the Calgary Flames traded Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a first-round pick.
But that trade swapped one 100-point scorer for another, something that Carolina neither has nor
would be willing to part with. The Hurricanes’ greatest value sits in 26-year-old Sebastian Aho, 21-year-old Seth Jarvis, and 23-year-old Andrei Svechnikov. One of these names would likely need to move in a Pettersson deal – both to add value and create lineup space – though Carolina would still likely need to add value. That could come in the form of reliable centerman Martin Nečas, who has come into his own in recent seasons, or defense depth such as Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, or Dmitry Orlov. Carolina also has their first-round pick in each of the next three drafts, all of which could have come into play.
Vancouver is, for now, aiming towards extending Pettersson – likely poised to offer him a record-setting contract. If they do, they’ll lock up their forward of the future to lineup alongside defenseman of the future Quinn Hughes, who has three more seasons left in a six-year, $47.1MM contract signed in October of 2021.
2025 1st round pick
2024 2nd round pick
C Joe Veleno (24 yo, LH, 11 goals, RFA)
D William Wallinder (21 yo, LH, AHL, #5 overall prospect, ELC)
LW Klim Kostin (24 yo, LH, 2m/yr thru ’25)
Make it happen Stevie Y
[Had Vancouver made Pettersson available last year whew they woulda gotten a haul. But now, unsigned RFA getting huge deal…don’t know what they can expect. Should be said that I wouldn’t take that offer I was Vancouver lol]
For Vancouver to accept a DET offer over other teams versions of the above, DET would have to probably replace Kostin with RW Berggren AND add another high pick or someone like Mazur
That isnt nearly enough from Detroits end. Add another 1st and a higher ranked prospect or roster piece.
I’d expect a DRW offer to have to include Kasper, and Edvinsson plus a 1st. Then add in some salary to make the numbers work. And I’d also expect Stevie Y to hang up the phone.
That’s way, WAY short of what EP is worth.
Laughable
That’s an “I’ll give you a bunch of my spare parts for one of the best players in the league” trade offer.
Kostin has zero value right now, Berggren not much more. DET would probably have to begin with Edvinsson + a 1st + another proven NHL player just to get VAN to not hang up the phone.
The response being, of course, that (say) moving Aho and Necas out for Pettersson would be insane on Carolina’s part.
I agree. Aho, Jarvis and Pesce for Petey and Myers matches money wise, but might be a bit too light for Carolina.
I’m a Canucks fan so I may be a little biased but it’s taking nothing less than Aho and Necas/Aho,Jarvis and Pesce to get Petey imo. I think the Canucks just resign him anyways and all this is much ado about nothing
See, here’s the problem with that.
Pettersson has a line of 29-46-75 in 62 games played, and his defensive numbers aren’t great. He’s on an expiring RFA contract, and obviously has a strong resume.
Aho has a line of 23-39-62 in 57 games played (that prorates to exactly eight points less than Pettersson’s scored), with significantly better defensive numbers. He’s under three more years of team control. Obviously he has a strong resume too.
Given that Aho’s locked in to an extension a million or two less than Pettersson is likely to be making, that Aho’s a better two-way player, I doubt I’d make this deal even up, let alone toss a proven top-six scorer into the bargain.
Aho is signed for 8 years more. He is way better defensively, which is more of an asset for Carolina’s system. As a Canes fan, Aho is the untouchable on the roster. A fair trade for me would be Necas and Skeji/Pesce (as long as they agree to an extension in Vancouver). 2nd line, potentially first line center in Necas and 1/2 pairing D man. They both also come from a winning culture. A pick could potentially go towards Vancouver as well.
The problem being with Aho (and not of his own making), that CAR hasn’t gone deep with him in the playoffs as the centerpiece of their team.
You can turn that right around. Vancouver has made the playoffs precisely once in Pettersson’s career, and didn’t make it out of the second round that time.
I hope the Oilers never trade Gretzky.
I was there, in the media dining room, when Gretzky got traded by LA to STL.
And, I’m not making this up, he actually snuck out of the Kings’ locker room in a hamper so as not to face the media, such as it was, that day in Hartford, leaving Kevin Stevens to answer questions about WTF had just happened.
I have a hard time believing Carolina was going to pull the trigger on this deal, though they absolutely should have interest in Pettersson. They just seem to not want to go all-in & win the Cup!
They have less cap space than league-minimum salary. Any player they get they have to move money out for every dollar that comes in. What deal would you make that another team would go for?
Canes cap space from capfriendly.com
PROJECTED CAP HIT Tooltip : $82,214,365
PROJECTED LTIR USED Tooltip : $0
PROJECTED CAP SPACE Tooltip : $1,285,635
CURRENT CAP SPACE Tooltip : $5,037,590
DEADLINE CAP SPACE Tooltip : $5,877,189
TODAY’S CAP HIT Tooltip : $83,254,417
Then there’s a discrepancy, because Puckpedia has it at:
Projected Cap Hit $82,726,409
Projected Cap Space $773,591
Current Cap Space $3,031,215
Regardless, the projected cap space figure does not reflect what a team can spend at the deadline. That has to do with their daily cap hit, not the amount of space they’ve accumulated throughout the season that could be spent at the deadline.
FWIW, the discrepancy comes from PuckPedia including Jarvis’ potential $500K in performance bonuses in Carolina’s cap hit. CapFriendly does not. CapFriendly’s is the accurate figure for what they could spend at the deadline and remain cap-compliant for now, although if Jarvis’ performance bonuses kick in and make them exceed the cap, the difference would be applied as a penalty next season.
TLDR, if their roster stays the same between now and March 8, Carolina could add that $5.877MM figure in cap hits.
Fellow countryman and teammate of Elias Lindholm, no doubt they talked, he of the bitter I got traded to Calgary variety.
Petterson does not have a say in this, so Elias Lindholm doesn’t matter. EP does not have a no trade/movement clause.
Woof!