Surging Blue Jackets have spoken to Canucks about Pettersson
Published
The Columbus Blue Jackets sit in a playoff spot after Thursday's 2-1 overtime win over the Vegas Golden Knights and, with the most salary cap space in the league, the team could be a suitor for Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson.
Columbus has one of the biggest surprises this season and TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports the team has held initial talks with the Canucks on Pettersson.
"A team to talk about is the Columbus Blue Jackets and it’s not surprising because they have massive salary cap space," LeBrun explained on Insider Trading. "So as the Canucks make their rounds talking to teams on both J.T. Miller, and Pettersson, the conversation with the Blue Jackets is on Pettersson.
"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."
The Blue Jackets enter play Friday sitting in the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and could snap a five-year playoff drought this season.
The surging Blue Jackets, who are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games, have $18.7 million in cap space, per PuckPedia.
The Canucks currently sit one point back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference but appear to be on their way towards parting with either Miller or Pettersson after president Jim Rutherford said the rift between the two is unlikely to be solved in any other way.
Rutherford told the Globe and Mail this week that trading either will likely leave the Canucks without a top-six centre and that a return for either player may have to be repackaged to fill the hole in their lineup.
"We’ll have to do the best we can in trades," Rutherford said. "Whatever assets you get in return, you may turn them into something else. And we have to work our way back into being a contending team."
While the off-ice drama has had a clear impact on the Canucks' results this season, the team has put together three straight wins for the first time since November entering Friday's game against the Dallas Stars.