According to Elite Prospect’s Cam Robinson, the Vancouver Canucks are again listening on offers on forward Elias Pettersson:
The report came Thursday afternoon, just under 21 hours until the NHL Trade Deadline. Robinson further highlighted more of what he’s hearing:
“But teams kept calling. In previous days and weeks, the club had told them that they were holding Pettersson for now and waiting to see how things went with Miller gone. However, it appears that they are more open to actively listening to see if there’s a rich enough return to make it worthwhile.”
It became evident that one of JT Miller and Elias Pettersson needed to be traded, and when the club decided to move on from Miller, they believed that Pettersson would turn his game around. However, that hasn’t happened. Pettersson has just three assists in 11 games.
Despite the trade, Pettersson remained on Frank Seravalli’s Trade Targets board. But shortly after, Robinson again reported that the Canucks had officially taken Pettersson off the market. The belief around the league was that the Canucks were going to allow Pettersson to ride out the remainder of the season, evaluate his play, and make a decision on his future in the offseason.
But these reports now indicate that the club is back to listening to offers on their freshly signed $11.6 million player.
Robinson later mentioned that neutral parties have wondered if the Canucks are floating Pettersson’s name to the Carolina Hurricanes in an attempt to trade for recently-acquired Mikko Rantanen.
The Hurricanes acquired Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche – one week before the Miller trade – in exchange for forward Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick.
There was earnest belief that the Hurricanes would acquire Pettersson in a similar package, but ultimately decided to trade for Rantanen.
However, now that the Hurricanes are having trouble coming to an agreement with Rantanen on an extension, Carolina is listening to offers to re-flip him.
Another team has entered the mix as a potential Pettersson destination: the New Jersey Devils.
Pete Blackburn joined the What Chaos Podcast and shared that a little birdie told him that the Devils were looking into Pettersson:
The Devils were rumoured to be interested in acquiring a centre at this year’s deadline. However, that need became even more of a necessity after star centreman and brother of Quinn Hughes, Jack Hughes, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury earlier this week.
The Canucks have just over 18 hours at the time of this writing before the NHL Trade Deadline, and the team might not be done dealing after sending Carson Soucy to the New York Rangers in exchange for a third-round pick. Not only is Pettersson’s name out there, but general manager Patrik Allvin also have to decide on pending UFAs Brock Boeser, Pius Suter and Derek Forbort.