Vancouver Canucks Discussing An Elias Pettersson Trade With Eastern Conference Playoff Hopeful
The Vancouver Canucks have had Elias Pettersson trade discussions with an Eastern Conference team hoping to make the playoffs this year.
The Vegas Golden Knights lost 2-1 in overtime Thursday to an Eastern Conference team, and in doing so, kept that team in playoff contention.
With the most salary room in the NHL, they could become a suitor for superstar Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are a pleasant surprise this season
The Columbus Blue Jackets, one of the biggest surprises of the current campaign, have even begun early negotiations with Vancouver regarding Pettersson, according to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun.
"We'll see if preliminary discussions, which have begun very recently, can go to the next level. But I think Columbus has the same questions every other team is asking about Pettersson, including a team like the Buffalo Sabres.
"Who is Elias Pettersson right now? Is he the Pettersson of old who warranted that massive extension last season or the one that we've seen this past year? It 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, is that teams are willing to see if the Canucks are willing to bring their asking price down on either player before they engage more fully."
Sitting in eighth and in a playoff position, and therefore occupying the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, the Blue Jackets hope to shatter a five-year playoff drought.
With a 7-2-1 run in its past 10, Columbus sits with $18.7 million in salary cap room, according to PuckPedia.
Meanwhile, the Canucks sit one point out of eighth and a Western Conference playoff position, but in-house tension could cause them to part with one of Pettersson and J.T. Miller.
Canucks president of hockey operations and general manager, Jim Rutherford, recently stated in an article in 'The Globe and Mail' that resolution to tension between Miller and Pettersson could only ever arrive via a trade.
That, however, would leave them minus a top-six center, and therefore, any return could have to plug that gap.
Regardless of off-ice controversy, Vancouver's gained momentum, taking three in a row for the first time in a month entering Friday's matchup with the Dallas Stars.
