Elias Pettersson was spotted at the Kings' facility, and one crucial detail makes it matter
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Elias Pettersson skated at the Los Angeles Kings practice facility on August 4, and the Vancouver Canucks storyline has nothing to do with his conditioning.
The clip is an open summer skate, not an audition. Anaheim Ducks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets jerseys are on the ice, along with Ontario Reign players and San Jose Sharks forward Tyler Toffoli.
Read it that way and the venue stops being trivia. Pettersson carries a full no-movement clause across all eight years of his $11.6 million contract, which runs through 2031-32.
The clause is the entire negotiation
Rick Dhaliwal has reported that Vancouver has never asked Pettersson to waive it. Every destination floated since March has therefore been a cap exercise rather than a consent exercise.
General manager Ryan Johnson can agree to a return, but Pettersson chooses the city. That is unusual leverage for a 27-year-old coming off 15 goals and 51 points in 74 games.
TSN's Farhan Lalji reported in early July that the Kings called and asked what it would take, then that Los Angeles had faded as a realistic fit. The stated obstacle was money.
Why the money problem expires
Los Angeles sits around $1.8 million in projected cap space after adding Mats Zuccarello, Erik Haula and Corey Perry and re-signing Scott Laughton.
Ken Holland has built a career on circling back once his books clear, and the salary cap climbs to $113.5 million in 2027-28.
Anze Kopitar's retirement left a hole down the middle that the Kings have not solved. None of that makes an August skate evidence of anything.
It does remove one unknown, though. The player with total veto power spent a Tuesday comfortable inside the building of the one team that has already phoned Vancouver about him.
Daniel Sedin asked Pettersson for preparation this summer, and he is preparing somewhere specific.
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