Insider Has Surprising Take On Elias Pettersson Trade Market
The rumors surrounding Vancouver Canucks' beleaguered center Elias Pettersson haven't let up over the summer. Will the $92.8M man find himself playing elsewhere next season? Trade rumors have run the gamut: They're trying to deal him; they haven't received any worthy offers; they won't retain; they have no choice but to stick with him to start the season then try again at the deadline.
But according to insider Jeff Marek on The Sheet, there actually is a healthy trade market for the Canucks' center.
I know a lot of people would disagree, but I still think there's a robust market for Elias Pettersson out there, provided that draft picks are conditional and Vancouver takes back a bad contract. Like I think there's a way you can make a 'safe' Elias Pettersson trade.
Does Elias Pettersson still have a 'robust' trade market?
He goes on to outline that "safe" type of offer a team could make:
- Two conditional first-rounders based on (Pettersson's) production
- A prospect
- Canucks take on a bad contract
Pettersson went from being a 100-point man (39 goals, 63 assists in 2022-23), to settling in as a 15-goal, 50-point man the past couple of seasons.
Can he rediscover his earlier form in a new environment? That would be the basis of Marek's proposed offer. Is it Pettersson reaching the 75-point mark? 80-point mark? When does the $11.6 million cap hit (assuming no retention) make sense?
And how much of a "bad contract" would Vancouver be willing to absorb? Yes, they're sitting on $17.8 million in cap space at the moment. And the roster is pretty much set. There's room to do it, if they were so inclined.
Ultimately, here's why a Pettersson deal is unlikely
The more likely scenario to get a deal going, as insider Rick Dhaliwal noted recently, would be having the Canucks finally agree to pick up a chunk of the tab, and take on retention on Pettersson's massive cap hit of at least $2M to $3M, just to get into a real conversation.
But as most reports indicate, that's unlikely to happen, and we should expect Pettersson to begin the season in Vancouver, and see how things go from there.