Elias Pettersson buzz grows as three NHL teams explore trade for Canucks star
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson remains a hot topic across the NHL rumor mill, and this time the chatter is backed up by real numbers.
If you have been anywhere near hockey Twitter lately, you already know the name Elias Pettersson keeps popping up in trade speculation.
It is not exactly a new storyline for Canucks fans, but the latest round of reporting suggests the interest around the league is more concrete than a lot of people assumed.
What insiders are actually saying
According to hockey insider Rick Dhaliwal, Vancouver made an effort to move Pettersson around draft time this summer.
Teams called, conversations happened, but nothing came close to a deal.
The sticking point, according to Dhaliwal on the Canucks Conversation podcast, comes down to the contract itself.
It is a big number attached to a player whose production has cooled off, and that combination scares off a lot of general managers no matter how much raw talent is still there.
That report lines up with what another well followed source, NHLRR, has been saying for a while now.
Rick Dhaliwal: Re Elias Pettersson future/Canucks: "They tried at the draft, teams called, but it's a tough tough contract to move."
NHLRR: "Multiple teams are reported to have at least explored a Pettersson trade, including the Kings, Penguins and Hurricanes."
NHLRR: "Multiple teams are reported to have at least explored a Pettersson trade, including the Kings, Penguins and Hurricanes."
Multiple teams have reportedly done their homework on a possible Pettersson move, including the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes.
None of that means a trade is close.
It just means Pettersson is officially a name teams are quietly circling.
Where things stand for Vancouver
For now, Pettersson remains a Canuck.
Management has not signaled any urgency to move him, and there is no indication a deal is close to getting done.
But with his name surfacing again and again from credible voices around the league, this feels like a story that is not finished being written.
Also read on House Of Hockey :
Oilers did what no other team could: Traded away the NHL's 6th worst contract
Oilers did what no other team could: Traded away the NHL's 6th worst contract