Vancouver Canucks’ Elias Pettersson is being ‘aggressively’ pursued by another NHL team | Sports
Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford recently gave one of his highest-paid players a ringing endorsement.
That player wasn’t Elias Pettersson.
In fact, Rutherford suggested that a Pettersson trade could be possible if the offer is right.
Well, one Eastern Conference team is reportedly very interested in acquiring the Canucks highest-paid player.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen recently reported that the Detroit Red Wings have been “aggressive in their pursuit” of Pettersson.
Of course, there’s an interesting history of recent activity between the Red Wings and Canucks.
Both teams struck one of the biggest trades of 2023, when Vancouver acquired defenceman Filip Hronek from Detroit.
They were also one of the teams that were in on Quinn Hughes, although they didn’t want to match the offer from the Minnesota Wild that was eventually accepted.
And during the last few days, the Red Wings were the team that offered an attractive enough return for Tyler Myers, prompting Vancouver’s request to ask the defenceman to waive his no-trade clause.
But swinging a deal for Pettersson would be on another level.
While there seems to be an open-mindedness from the Canucks to consider dealing him, the fact that he has a bloated $11.6 million cap hit appears to be a stumbling block.
And although teams reportedly want the Canucks to retain, Detroit is one of the few teams that could swallow his entire cap hit.
The Red Wings currently have $12.78 million in projected cap space, according to PuckPedia, which is the most in the NHL.
They also have a need to acquire a second-line centre behind Dylan Larkin. The rest of their centres are either too young (Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson) or not true No. 2 centres (Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher, Michael Rasmussen). With the Red Wings on the verge of snapping a nine-year playoff drought, perhaps there’s a thirst for more than just getting into the postseason.
Detroit currently has all of their draft picks in the 2026 draft, along with an above-average prospect pool.
They have the assets to get a Pettersson deal done.
Of course, whether it actually happens is another story.
