The Nashville Predators are more than one big move away from doing anything special this season, but thinking long-term and how to be better in 2025-26 and beyond has to be on the top of General Manager Barry Trotz's mind.
Shockingly, the Vancouver Canucks are rumored to be shopping their star center Elias Pettersson due to an internal rift in the locker room and the team underperforming in the standings.
This is one of the situations where I'll have to see it to believe it, and that the Canucks front office led by General Manager Patrik Allvin are just showing some tough love to the 26-year-old dynamic center who is a former 102-point scorer just two seasons ago. They're not really considering trading Pettersson away, are they?
"I believe everybody knows Vancouver is open to listening, that they have already...but I think their preference is, for lack of the better term: 'grow up and figure it out.'"@FriedgeHNIC on J.T. Miller & Elias Pettersson with @Mattymar89 & @FutaMichael. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/pifzViEzoj
— Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) January 2, 2025
Are the Canucks really that crazy to ship off Pettersson?
What is really so surprising to see Pettersson surfacing in trade rumors is that he's in Year 1 of an eight-year deal that was signed in March of 2024. It would be crazy to see the Canucks jump ship so soon, which leads me to believe Allvin is just sending a message and that he's not really wanting to trade his star player.
The Canucks are definitely an underperforming team right now while hanging on the fringe of the playoff race in the Western Conference with the last wildcard spot. I can't see them willing to send those kind of shockwaves throughout their organization by trading away Pettersson.
If the Canucks were to continue to fall down the standings and out of the playoff race while the relationship with Pettersson keeps getting more complicated, then maybe the Canucks turn to that dramatic course of action.
Nashville Predators have the assets to make a push for Pettersson
If Pettersson is seriously on the trade block, then the line is going to be a mile long to try to trade for him and the Predators can't be ruled out with how much cap space they have. Currently the Predators have approximately $12.78 million of cap space according to MoneyPuck. That is enough space to take on Pettersson's $11.6 million cap hit.
What would the Canucks expect in return? Well, obviously they're going to want an enormous package in return for Pettersson including top draft picks, a high end prospect and a proven starter. The Canucks want to remain in the Stanley Cup conversation for 2024-25.
The Predators have a ton of draft capital to offer the Canucks in a trade for Pettersson, including three first round draft picks for 2025 and two second-round picks.
As for prospects and current NHL starters, Ryan O'Reilly and/or Gustav Nyquist is a starting point. trading O'Reilly, who has the most trade value out of all of the realistic trade candidates the Predators have, is also a true center and comes much cheaper for the Canucks to clear up cap space to make other moves outside of trading Pettersson away.
The Predators could throw in Nyquist to sweeten the deal for the Canucks, and a high-end prospect. That would be quite the hefty package to offer the Canucks to get their true top line star center in Nashville. That would give you Pettersson and Stamkos as your top two centers, while getting younger by swapping the 33-year-old O'Reilly with the 26-year-old Pettersson.
I would test the waters on the interest in Colton Sissons as well, who is a Vancouver native.
Here's my proposed trade for Nashville to get Pettersson from the Canucks:
You might be asking why would the Canucks want to take on O'Reilly, who is clearly a downgrade to Pettersson? Well, O'Reilly is still a high quality veteran player and comes at a much cheaper price for the Canucks to add something else at the trade deadline. You throw Nyquist in there and a first-round pick in 2025 and a prospect and it would be hard top that offer.
Now I'm not saying Trotz should definitely do this. It comes with a lot of risk and the main problem with this trade is it wouldn't fix this current season, which is honestly beyond repair. But it would solve Nashville's decades long problem of never being able to find a true superstar center to run their top line.
And with three first-round picks for 2025, this leaves you still with two more at your disposal. Getting Pettersson would potentially set you up for years to come to build around him. Everyone has voiced their displeasure with adding aging veterans, but Pettersson certainly isn't that and he is already proven to be an elite player who is just now entering his prime.
The risk involved is you're investing in seven more years of Pettersson at $11.6 million cap hit. That scares a lot of Predators fans off because they remember how it ended with Matt Duchene, Kyle Turris and Ryan Johansen. All three were being paid by the Predators after their tenures, with Duchene and Turris still being paid currently by the Predators.
Trotz is going to do something bold again. It's how he operates, and he sees this organization needs a massive shake-up. Pettersson could end up becoming your franchise top line center this organization has never had.
Ultimately I don't see the Canucks following through with this, and even if they do, the sweepstakes for Pettersson is going to be several teams deep. I don't have high probability the Predators win that sweepstakes, but they should certainly do their due diligence and at least inquire.