Canucks reportedly came very close to trading their best player to Hurricanes

The Vancouver Canucks came close to trading star centerman Elias Pettersson, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Friedman shared that Vancouver was engaged in trade talks with the Carolina Hurricanes that "advanced" to a serious enough point that Vancouver was forced to make a decision — ultimately opting to take another pass at extending the top-scoring 25-year-old. News of the trade talks was enough to inspire Pettersson to allow his representative Pat Brisson to continue discussing a new deal in Vancouver. The two sides remain steadfast on finding an extension, as reported earlier this week.

While Pettersson rumors have swirled around in light of few extension talks, there has yet to be serious weight to any trade talks. That’s now changed, as the Canucks inched toward dealing their star to one of the NHL’s premier teams. There’s no doubting that any deal involving Pettersson would go down in history. The young forward has 29 goals and 75 points in just 61 games this season, scoring at an 82-game pace of 39 goals and 101 points. That would fall just narrowly short of the career-high Pettersson recorded last season, when he managed 39 goals and 102 points in 80 games.

Pettersson’s scoring this season leads all U26 players in the NHL, ahead of major names like Cale Makar, Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes and Tim Stutzle. Speculating a price for such one of the league's top players is never an easy feat — and Pettersson’s case is made even more difficult by the lack of clear assets on either side. The most recent comparable deal is likely when the Calgary Flames traded Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and a first-round pick.

But that trade swapped one 100-point scorer for another, something that Carolina neither has nor would be willing to part with. The Hurricanes’ greatest value sits in 26-year-old Sebastian Aho, 21-year-old Seth Jarvis and 23-year-old Andrei Svechnikov. One of these names would likely need to move in a Pettersson deal — both to add value and create lineup space — though Carolina would still likely need to add value. That could come in the form of reliable center Martin Necas, who has come into his own in recent seasons, or defense depth such as Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei or Dmitry Orlov. Carolina also has their first-round pick in each of the next three drafts, all of which could have come into play.

Vancouver is, for now, aiming toward extending Pettersson — likely poised to offer him a record-setting contract. If they do, they’ll lock up their forward of the future to lineup alongside defenseman of the future Quinn Hughes, who has three more seasons left in a six-year, $47.1M contract signed in October 2021.