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Why the Canucks shouldn’t rush into an Elias Pettersson trade: Canucks Conversation
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Clarke Corsan
Jan 21, 2026, 17:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 21, 2026, 14:47 EST
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On Tuesday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal dove into one of the biggest questions facing the organization: whether the Canucks should seriously explore trading Elias Pettersson – and if so, how quickly they should move. With Vancouver clearly pivoting toward a longer-term reset and recently moving Kiefer Sherwood, there’s a growing sense that no player is untouchable. That includes Pettersson, who is in year two of his eight-year, $92.8 million contract with an $11.6 million cap hit.
Rumours have picked up recently, with reports suggesting multiple teams are showing interest in the 27-year-old centre. But while the noise around a potential trade is real, both Quads and Harm stressed that urgency shouldn’t drive the Canucks’ decision-making.
Quads laid out why patience is the Canucks’ strongest position right now.
“You’re in no rush to trade Pettersson — not because he’s going to be great necessarily — but because everybody who is interested in Elias Pettersson right now is going to be interested in him in the offseason and next season,” Quads said. “Potentially, in a perfect world, you have Ivar Stenberg or Gavin McKenna playing and putting up a bunch of points on his wing. They’d be among the best linemates Pettersson has ever had from a skill perspective, and it’s safe to assume he’d be playing with them.”
For Quads, the key point is leverage. If teams are calling now, they’ll still be calling later – and possibly with more urgency.
“If there’s interest now, there will be interest in the summer and next season,” he said. “It’s not like top-line centremen are growing on trees. If you’re the Canucks and teams are trying to penny and dime you when there are reports that teams are knocking down the door, see how much higher you can go in terms of return on a trade.”
Harm echoed that sentiment and pointed to recent history as a cautionary example. When the Canucks moved J.T. Miller last season, timing worked against them.
“When the Canucks were trying to shop J.T. Miller in the middle of last season – of course, Miller was a lot older and the situation was different – but there weren’t a lot of teams that emerged as serious bidders,” Harm said. “A lot of that is because teams are up against the cap and it’s hard to fit that kind of contract in and make it work in the middle of the season.”
Harm acknowledged that the Canucks were effectively forced to act then due to locker-room issues, but he believes waiting would have changed the market significantly.
“Had they held off and gotten to this past summer, the free-agent centre market was dire,” he said. “There were very few top-six centres available, and basically half the league was interested in landing one but couldn’t find it.”
“The number of teams that would be potentially interested in Pettersson only grows in the offseason,” Harm continued. “It’s an easier time for teams to move pieces around the chessboard with more cap space, and they can make a more sizable swing. If I’m the Canucks, I’m going to stay patient. If a team right now blows me away with an offer, absolutely I’d consider it. But I’m not in a rush to offload him just for the sake of getting off his contract.”
Another important layer is Pettersson’s own control over the situation. His no-move clause gives him significant say in where and when he goes.
“He has a ton of control here,” Harm said. “How open would he be to flipping his life upside down in the middle of the season versus the summer? As a player, it’s probably easier to consider moving in the offseason, when you’re not playing every other night, and you don’t have the stress of things like the Olympics coming up,” he said. “It’s a tough time to consider relocating in the middle of the year.”
Taken together, the message from the guys was clear: trading Elias Pettersson may eventually make sense, but forcing the issue now would be a mistake. With his age, position, contract length, and league-wide scarcity of top-line centres, the Canucks are holding an asset that doesn’t lose value just because time passes.
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