Welcome back to WWYDW, the only hockey column on the internet still broadcast on UHF.

Speaking of UHF, another initialism that starts with a ‘U’ is UFA, as in unrestricted free agency. The upcoming NHL Entry Draft is taking up most of the airspace in Vancouver right now, and with good reason, but less than a week after that, the Canucks will once again enter into the Free Agent Frenzy.

This FAF promises to be a lot less frenzied that in years past for this particular organization. The rebuilding Canucks are mostly looking to add to their roster via the draft, and they’ll only be looking to add a few pieces around the periphery via free agency.

That said, the fact that the Canucks are only limited participants in free agency actually makes great fodder for a WWYDW/WDYTT question. Really, the Canucks are going to be picking out and zeroing in on, maybe, one or two UFAs. So, before they do, we thought we’d ask you to do a little bit of pre-zeroing in on a singular UFA of your own choice.

There are a number of intriguing UFAs set to hit the market as of July 1, and you can find the full list of them over with our friends at PuckPedia.

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

They should trade EP40 if they can, but I can’t image there is a market for him that doesn’t cost us more than it’s worth. So I’m looking forward to having him around for six more years to remind us all of what bad contracts look like.

Trading EP40 should probably happen at some point, but there is no urgency to do so. Each passing season and salary cap increase reduces the burden of his contract for a potential trading partner. This increases his potential value in a trade.

The Canucks are a few years away from a salary cap crunch or having any young player deserving of 1C minutes. Only when those issues become imminent, is there a need to trade EP40. If he returns to being more productive, that only helps his trade value.

Trading Petey now is a terrible idea.

Plus, he’s untradable at this point in time. Full NMC. Low current value.

There’s no one to take on his minutes.

Give him some decent wingers. Don’t switch them up after 1-2 games, give them time.

A full season with Rossi and Räty taking some of the heavy mins/matchups off his shoulders will go a long way. A lot of people are forgetting Petey had NO ONE helping him for 3/4 of the season. Kampf was 2C, Chytil, Reichel, Blueger – what did you expect?

No pressure to trade him now unless it’s a Vito Corleone offer.

He needs to be told if he wants out, to raise his game so he can go where he wants to go.

Simple enough.

No, don’t trade Petey. He’s a long-term investment and he’ll do just fine. I think the problem is people expect Petey to be a kind of hockey player rather than the one he is. He’s not going to be an ogre like Ovechkin, and he’s not going to play like a nonstop highlight reel. He has a lethal shot and is excellent at blocking opponents shots. He makes genius passes. Knock off the pressure and just cheer him on. He’ll be OK.

Accepting your premise that the decision has to be made this offseason. Assuming that means he is either traded this offseason or cannot be traded until his contract expires.

You keep him unless you are blown away by an offer and it cannot include any retention. His cap hit is not an issue for us and it is not unreasonable to assume it never will be based on rebuilding timelines and the way the cap is going up.

54 years on…..?:
That all depends…

The poor UFA class and the lack of center depth leaguewide may positively impact the offers some teams are willing to make. In desperation, who knows what will be on the table.

Detroit and LA are often speculated as potential landing spots and if they are actually willing to give up assets worth getting, then yes.

At the end of the day, Petey is their best C, so no sense giving him away for nothing.

No. There is no benefit to trading him this offseason

As a rebuilding team, you can’t use “getting out of a bad contract” as a reason to trade a guy, because having a bad contract does not impede your short-term goals in any way

Trading him now would also be selling at minimal value – his trade value likely isn’t any lower than what it is right now.

The most important question is not his point total, it is his impact on young players.

That will be the most important assessment of the new management team.

Jake DeBrusk has already said he does not want to stay around for the rebuild so he has to go.

With Petey, it has been a lack of serious training. Cannot have that around a young team, so either he gets serious about it or he has to go, too.

So, to summarize, it is an attitude and commitment question, not a quality of play question or contract question.

To commit to trading him this offseason is foolish; his trade value sucks. As well, we should wait and see if he comes to training camp fit and ready to play, how he responds to new coaching and management, and who is he is given as linemates. I’m tossing away last season, Foote was over his head and far too often trying to coach like Tocchet which he failed at; look at how he treated Raty, just like Tocchet-lite.

EP40 is the closest thing we have to a #1 centre, and perhaps with the right coaching and linemates he can get back into that 80-100 point range.

If the team can coax any improvement out of him, then at the very least they will improve his trade value.

Not sure why you would want to sell low on Petey when the team has plenty of CAP space and no pressure to get to the playoffs next year. Given he’s still only 27, I’d want to find out if the new management and coaching team can get some sort of a rebound out of him, then move him. Bearing in mind that he’s got full control over if and where he goes. Going to Detroit, for example, would be very unlikely.

It’s a bad situation. I’m not privy to the locker room, but my biggest concern is his effect on the younger guys. From the outside, based on the production/timing and every coach/GM’s comments, it looks like he worked right until the day he signed his long term contract and then stopped. I don’t think I want a guy making eight digits a year for hanging out to be mentoring the kids.

I also strongly disagree with folks who say his value is at an all-time low. Right now, the majority of his trade value would be on the hope that he rebounds and this was all just Canucks nonsense. Which is possible! But, the more seasons that pass with point totals in the 40s and 50s, the fewer teams will believe in a rebound (and of course, he’ll age etc, a 30 year old Petey has less value than a 27 year old one.) In other words, his value is only at an all-time low if you believe he’ll rebound. Sure, the cap will go up, but it’s not going to double in the next couple of years. (Why would you get Petey when you could arguably find that production in a number of players for half the price?)

I personally am a cynic and don’t trust in Petey, so if the Canucks could somehow get rid of him for a seventh rounder or something and no retention, I would run to that the deal before the other GM sobered up. Happy to sign a bargain bin centre (and beg Blueger to come back on a reasonable deal) and give the bigger minutes to someone like Rossi, see what Räty can do, leave room for Cootes in a couple years, etc.

Contract aside, and despite all kinds of adversity, Pettersson has still averaged almost a point a game in his career and is the fastest Canuck to reach 300 points, behind Mogilny and Bure. Even with the onerous contract, he is the least of the Canucks’ worries and remains the best player on the team (with the possible exception of Hronek). Last year was a lost year for the whole team, and I think he will bounce back unless his injuries—concussion, upper body, knee, wrist, etc.—have debilitated him. Blocking 80 shots in a season will also leave a mark. A lot of people on this site deride his “elite” defensive play, but it is elite, and coaches value defensive play. As for “mentoring,” they got rid of Horvat, Miller, Hughes, Garland, and others, which indicates the Pettersson was not the issue in the locker room. In any case, this will be the year we find out if injuries have taken a permanent toll and he has plateaued—but I doubt it and I hope not.

The team needs to try and rebuild any value that EP has. With the Twins in charge, I have a feeling the expectations will sink in. Yes JR and PA called out EP, but the Twins are a different story. They won’t make public statements ala JR/PA.

In a year or two, the contract won’t look as bad, so moving on will be easier.

If he regains point-per-game while being responsible defensively? Great! If in two years the team can get some value? Great also.

You have to move on from this player. He has not lived up to contract expectations, not even close… if someone wants to take a flyer on him, then let them have at it.

I hear what the Sedins are saying with respect to culture on and off the ice and to date. Pettersson doesn’t appear to be a guy that can live up to that standard and it will more than likely just cause more conflict with this player.

Main point checks out: Pettersson is the Canucks’ franchise engine, keep him.

Fresh angle: don’t just trade or sign—build a concrete plan around him: ideal linemates, D support, and cap structure to raise his prime. A smarter rebuild window could beat a risky blockbuster if it actually raises the ceiling, not just the vibes.

If I’ve said this once, I said it a hundred times. The time to trade Pettersson is when his replacement has been drafted and developed. Since they haven’t even drafted his yet, it’s not time.

“A rebuild is a long slow gradual process” – Francesco Aquilini.