According to Elliotte Friedman, the Vancouver Canucks are potentially shifting the narrative a bit when it comes to the future of Elias Pettersson in Vancouver. After an interview where he said he wanted to see how the season shaped out before signing a long-term commitment with the team, Friedman is suggesting that Pettersson’s uncertainty has given the organization a reason for pause.
It was believed the Canucks were ready and willing to give the dynamic forward a huge long-term deal, but Pettersson wasn’t sure he wanted to sign up if the Canucks weren’t going to be competitive. The NHL insider is now saying that the Canucks are responding less than favorably.
He noted in his recent 32 Thoughts podcast that once Pettersson went public with his desire to wait, the organization felt like that might have been a shot across the bow. He noted, “Since Pettersson came out and said ‘I’m not sure yet’, I think the Canucks have also kind of indicated, you know what, ‘We’re not sure yet either.'” He added, “If there is any doubt that Pettersson wants to make a commitment, I’m not convinced that they want to make a commitment. So this will be a fascinating development.”
Could This All Lead to Pettersson Trade Talks?
This is not great news for the Canucks if Pettersson remains non-committal. The longer this drags out, the more likely the Canucks grow bitter about the fact he’s not fully on board. At the very least, the more concerned they become that this doesn’t all pan out. That could lead to trade chatter and rumors about his future with the team. And, if the Canucks want to get the best possible return for him, they’ll need to start conversing with teams sooner than later to get the best leverage.
The hope here is that this doesn’t get ugly. If the season goes south in a hurry, trade talk could begin rather quickly.
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kinkaf
October 10, 2023 at 5:22 am
Management waited for HALF the off season before they even TRIED to talk to Pettersson’s camp about a contract extension when they should have been it from the day the last season ended.
Taking nearly TWO months to even think about maybe possibly discussing a new contract was like slapping him in the face and saying “meh, we can’t be bothered dealing with you”.
And it was MANAGEMENT that said it wasn’t a problem because they had a year to work out a new deal.
MANAGEMENT – NOT the player.
This Pittsburgh, er, Vancouver management team is more worried about their old team than they are about Vancouver.
Don’t be surprised if they try and trade Pettersson to Pittsburgh in fact.
In fact, you can probably bet that was a part of the reason they didn’t talk to him earlier – because they were waiting to see what happened in Pittsburgh with the new management.
Remember, these are the same guys who tried to trade 80pt Miller for 40pt Zucker at the trade deadline to try and help Pittsburgh make the playoffs.
And they didn’t want Zucker but couldn’t find anyone else to dump him on so the deal fell through.
This is also the SAME guys who undercut Boudreau after the great run he had, then fired his assistants in the offseason (and hired one of their old Pittsburgh buddies) and basically slapped Boudreau (and the team) in the face during the offseason with all the talk about getting rid of him and all the trade rumours.
And the team, knowing their coach was on thin ice and knowing most of them could be traded at any time, did poorly to start the season.
Poorly enough that Alvin/Rutherford could finally justify firing him and his assistants – except for their Pittsburgh buddy of course – and then hiring another former Penguin despite his very poor coaching record.
Literally everything they’ve done since coming to Vancouver has been about rewarding Pittsburgh players or helping their old team.
(And gee, look at that. Casey DeSmith – 6 years as a Pittsburgh Penguin. Pittsburgh trades him to Monteal and then Alvin/Rutherford trade for him.)
Just waiting for them to change the Orca on the jerseys to a Penguin. They’ll need to go on a long winning streak before they can make that happen though.
So, the question is – who will Pittsburgh get to dump on Vancouver when they trade for Pettersson ?