“I’d say it’s a little early to say [that any team is the frontrunner for Pettersson], but certainly a team to talk about would be the Columbus Blue Jackets. And it’s not surprising because they’ve got massive salary cap space.

“So, as the Canucks make their rounds and talk to different teams on both J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, the conversation with the Jackets is on Pettersson. We’ll see whether these preliminary discussions, some of them very recent, can go next level.

“But I think for Columbus, it’s the same question all the other teams that I’ve talked about Vancouver have, including a team like the Buffalo Sabres, who is Elias Pettersson right now? The Pettersson of old warranted that massive extension, but the one we’ve seen over the past year has a lot of teams wondering how much they want to give up.

“What I’m sensing around the market, whether it’s Miller or Pettersson as teams are waiting to see if the Canucks were willing to bring their asking price down on either player before they engage more fully on either player.”