Vancouver Canucks News & Rumors

The Canucks are wrapping up a difficult season, set to finish at the bottom of the standings after trading their captain, Quinn Hughes. This rebuild came just a year after another disappointing season, during which they traded their arguably best forward, J.T. Miller.

It’s been a tumultuous period in Vancouver, and with numerous bad contracts on the books, the outlook doesn’t seem much better. The worst of those deals, and possibly the worst in the NHL, concerns Canucks forward Elias Pettersson, who is ending another disappointing season, his second in a row.

With two subpar seasons on his record and six years remaining on his contract at $11.6MM annually, is it even practical for the Canucks to move on from Pettersson, or are they stuck with the 27-year-old for the foreseeable future?

To provide some context, let’s start by examining Pettersson’s contract, which was signed just over two years ago on March 2, 2024, when Pettersson was a year removed from a 102-point season and was amid an 89-point year. The contract committed Vancouver and Pettersson to an agreement that Vancouver hoped would see him through his prime years and lead to significant success.

However, with roughly $63.8MM still remaining on the deal, Vancouver has not received good value for its investment, and, even more concerning, it is tied to arguably the most unmovable contract in hockey.

The deal is effectively designed to be buyout-proof, thanks to the five separate $5MM bonuses spread across the final five seasons of Pettersson’s contract. These signing bonuses don’t offer much savings for Vancouver if they choose a buyout, meaning Pettersson remains their problem unless they can trade him.

Now, if Pettersson were a $5MM or $6MM center, there would be no problem. He would be a relatively productive middle-six centre with some offensive flair.

But, given that he earns the money he does, Vancouver can’t afford to insulate Pettersson or give him the additional support needed to bring out the best in his game. It’s a problem for both sides, and one without an easy fix.

So, is there a solution? It’s possible, and Elliotte Friedman has previously discussed an Eastern Conference team showing interest in Pettersson, likely the Red Wings.

Besides the clear Swedish connections in Detroit, Pettersson could fit well as a second-line center behind Dylan Larkin, where he would face less pressure and scrutiny. Detroit could afford Pettersson’s salary, but probably wants Vancouver to cover some of the cap hit, something the Canucks are unlikely to be interested in.

If Vancouver isn’t interested in retaining significant money on Pettersson, they essentially have only two options left. The first is to keep Pettersson and hope he works his way out of his slump long enough to be traded. This is similar to what the Penguins did with Tristan Jarry, and it has worked well for them, although it has been disastrous so far for the Oilers, who paid the price to acquire him.

The other option for Vancouver would be to trade Pettersson for another expensive contract or multiple poor-value deals. Vancouver might also look beyond provincial borders to Alberta, where two players – the Flames’ Jonathan Huberdeau and Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse — are currently tied to hefty, hard-to-trade contracts.

Like Pettersson, both Huberdeau and Nurse have buyout- and trade-proof contracts, thanks to the high price tags attached to them for the foreseeable future. Huberdeau has five years remaining on his deal at $10.5MM annually, while Nurse has four years left at a $9.25MM AAV.

Considering their performance, these players could be candidates to be traded for Pettersson. However, another major obstacle to any trade involving these players is the trade protection embedded in their contracts.

Nurse has a full no-movement clause through the 2026-27 season, which then becomes a 10-team no-trade list for the last three years of his deal (per PuckPedia). While Huberdeau carries a full no-move clause for another three years after this one, it then shifts to a 12-team no-trade list for the final two seasons of his contract.

Although both Nurse and Huberdeau could benefit from a fresh start, the Canucks are about to rebuild, and veteran players won’t be lining up to join Vancouver at the bottom of the league standings.

All of that doesn’t put Vancouver in a strong position, and unless a team takes a big risk on Pettersson, Vancouver is likely stuck with him and his $11.6MM contract. Even though it seems like a deal that’s hard to move, it’s not unheard of for large cap hits to be traded.

Dion Phaneuf carried a $7MM cap hit on a long-term deal a decade ago while he was mainly a third-pairing defenceman, but that didn’t stop Ottawa from acquiring him and his full cap hit, which they eventually traded to the Kings in 2018 while retaining 25% of the cap hit.

The same applies to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who was acquired by the Vancouver Canucks along with Conor Garland in exchange for a ninth overall pick, a 2022 second-round pick, and forwards Antoine Roussel, Loui Eriksson, and Jay Beagle. The deal mainly helped Vancouver offload several spare parts with high cap hits, but make no mistake, Ekman-Larsson was a failure in Vancouver, which is why he was bought out in June 2023.

Trades involving Phaneuf and Larsson show that trades for bloated contracts are possible. However, there are many cases like Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who could never be dealt because his play declined so much that no matter what assets were included, no team wanted him. Pettersson isn’t quite there yet, but another season or two like this past one and he probably won’t be moved without 50% retention of his cap hit.

Photo by Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images