Teams Keep Circling Elias Pettersson, Insider on What Canucks Need to Finalize Trade

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Elias Pettersson’s name continues to pop up in trade speculation and has for the past couple of seasons. Off to a point-per-game start, this season will likely be no different. In fact, there may be more chatter around Pettersson than in past seasons.

That said, even if trade talk picks up, Pettersson might be a difficult sell.

Speaking on Oilers NOW, Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal said teams have checked in on the Canucks center at both of the last two trade deadlines, as well as at the NHL draft. The reason isn’t necessarily because they believe he’s a supestar who can get 100 points. It’s because he’s the kind of player who can put up 80-85 and when NHL clubs are thin down the middle, they start thinking about trades they might not otherwise make.

Dhaliwal said interested teams see Pettersson as a player who could realistically deliver a point per game over 84 games. That kind of production is something they feel they could build around, as long as they aren’t paying out the teeth for it. $11.6 million might be high. Shave $2 million or so off of that number and teams might start calling the Canucks about an offer.

Pettersson carries an $11.6 million cap hit, and Dhaliwal said nobody is eager to take on that number. Teams, he noted, would be comfortable paying somewhere in the range of $8.5 million to $9.5 million for that production. If the Canucks were willing to retain, there’d be interest. And, if Pettersson continues to produce, there’d be a lot of interest.

For now, the interest is real, but the price is not right. It’s still early in the season and there’s time for Pettersson to cool off or heat up. Teams might want a bigger sample size before feeling comfortable. Even then, until the cap hit comes down, Pettersson’s trade market looks likely to stay in the same holding pattern.

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