The concept of a “will they, won’t they” situation typically only applies to television romances, but it could also be applied to the Vancouver Canucks and their seniormost Elias Pettersson. We’ve heard he’s on the block. We’ve heard he’s off the block. We’ve heard that there’s a lot of Pettersson “chatter.” More specifically, we’ve heard that the Canucks are totally unwilling to retain any salary on a Pettersson trade. Then, more recently, we’ve heard that they might, in fact, be willing to retain salary.

It’s a tough idea for some to wrap their heads around. Though he can’t be said to have good value with that $11.6 million cap hit, Pettersson does still have some positive value in a centre-starved market. To some, that means there is no reason to consider retaining salary.

But there may be a lesson for the Canucks to learn from another somewhat recent trade involving a distressed, overpriced asset. We’re talking, of course, about Seth Jones, the subject of the largest retained salary deal in NHL history…or at least the largest retained salary deal in NHL history so far.

Were the Canucks to trade Pettersson this summer and retain on his salary, they’d be doing so for the next six seasons, right up until his contract ran out in 2032. Retention for that length of time is rare, but it has happened before. The San Jose Sharks retained six-and-change seasons of Tomas Hertl’s contract when they sent him to the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2024 Trade Deadline, though they only retained $1.39 million or so. The next-longest retention trade involved the Canucks themselves, with the Arizona Coyotes retaining a full six years of $990,000 before sending Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Vancouver.

Before we move on from those examples, it’s worth noting that they’ve worked out pretty well for the retaining teams. The Sharks will have a little bit of Hertl on their books until 2030, but they’re happily plugging away at their own rebuild and don’t seem to miss that cap space at all. The Coyotes got even luckier when the Canucks eventually bought out Ekman-Larsson. They, now in the form of the Utah Mammoth, have Ekman-Larsson on the books until 2031, but only at a cap hit of $650,000, which will soon drop to $290,000.

Those dollar amounts all pale in comparison to the Jones trade, however.

Jones was dealt from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Florida Panthers on March 1, 2025, just a week or so ahead of the Trade Deadline. He and a fourth-round pick went to the Panthers, and the Blackhawks returned a conditional first-round pick (which has now slid to being an unprotected 2027 first) and young goaltender Spencer Knight, who appears set in place as Chicago’s long-term starter.

That’s quite a return for an asset that was decidedly distressed at the time. The Blackhawks had put a lot of chips down on Jones, having initially traded the 12^th overall pick, another first-round pick (which ended up being sixth overall in 2022), a second-round pick, and Adam Boqvist for Jones, a sixth-round pick, and the 32^nd overall pick back in July of 2021. They then immediately signed Jones to a whopping eight-year, $9.5 million AAV contract. It made him the third-highest paid defender in the entire NHL at the time, and he’s still tied for sixth at this present moment.

And then Jones proceeded to disappoint. He notched 51 points, but awful defensive results, in his first 2021-22 campaign with the Blackhawks. Then, even the offence began to fall off. He dropped to 37 points the next year, then 31 the year after. Jones quickly became known as one of the most overpaid players in the entire league, and the trade that brought him to Chicago was quickly deemed a disaster.

Jones and the Blackhawks toughed it out for three-and-a-half seasons. That was long enough for him to rebound slightly in 2024-25. Off to a start of 27 points in 42 games and looking slightly better in his own end, the Blackhawks put Jones on the market and found an interested buyer in the Florida Panthers.

But the Blackhawks probably wouldn’t have been able to move Jones at all, and they certainly wouldn’t have gotten such a premium package back for him without retaining all that salary. They retained more than a quarter (26.32%), or $2.5 million annually, of Jones’ contract for a full six seasons. That adds up to $13.125 million in total retention, making it far and away the most ever retained on a single deal.

And, looking back on it now a couple years later, the Blackhawks would make that same trade every time. So, too, would the Panthers, who immediately won another Cup with Jones, but we’re here to talk about rebuilds, not championships. And the Blackhawks rebuild has benefited heavily from getting Jones (mostly) off the books, continuing to tank (grabbing Anton Frondell at third overall in 2025 and someone else at fourth overall in the upcoming draft), and bringing in some premium assets in the process.

Knight was just 23 at the time of the trade. He had taken some time away from hockey in 2023 to seek treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Still, he was otherwise considered to be one of the finest young goaltenders in the NHL, which is exactly what he’s been ever since joining the Blackhawks.

Chicago’s own rebuild has been moving along nicely, and they’re about ready to start competing for the playoffs as of 2026-27 with Knight in net. But no matter how far they move up the standings, they’ve still got another extra first-round pick coming at the end of the season, and depending on how well Florida rebounds, it could even wind up being a high one.

On top of all that, getting Jones out of the picture has allowed the Blackhawks to continue to develop an excellent young blueline that includes names like Alex Vlasic, Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Kevin Korchinski, and more.

Jones’ retention remains on the books for four more seasons, but it’s plainly not hurting the Blackhawks any, and has been swallowed up several times over by yearly cap increases. They’re still heading into this offseason with more than $40 million in potential spending space.

The lesson we’re suggesting the Canucks take from the Blackhawks here should be pretty obvious by now. We’re still not sure if the Canucks should trade Elias Pettersson, and we’re definitely not sure if that trade should happen this offseason. But if it does happen, now or in the short-term future, the Canucks should really, really consider retaining a decent chunk of Pettersson’s salary.

Retaining just 25% of Pettersson’s contract would bring his cap hit down from $11.6 million to $8.7 million, which is significantly more palatable. Heck, give it a couple of years, and that’ll become a very reasonable salary for any 2C-type. That’s suddenly a contract that teams won’t just want, but would be willing to pay for. That should lead, in turn, to the potential return for Pettersson increasing in almost exponential fashion, going from ‘just getting rid of him’ to ‘getting back something that can actually help the rebuild.’

The Canucks are still low on future assets, and especially low on non-future assets that could reasonably be exchanged for high-quality future assets. Who on the current roster could even be traded for a first-round pick outright? Aside from the young core, that list probably begins and ends at Filip Hronek.

But a retained Pettersson should return a first, and then some. A retained Pettersson could return something similar to what Jones did: a first-round pick and a premium prospect. And that’s the sort of return that would genuinely push the rebuild a few steps forward.

Retaining salary can be tough to swallow. It can be controversial. But it’s also the best way to turn a distressed asset into something with some more genuine trade value, and that’s proven nicely by the Jones example.

If the Canucks are going to get the most out of a Pettersson trade, it’s an example that they need to follow.