The link between Elias Pettersson and the Columbus Blue Jackets won't go away.
Thursday, those rumors were given a fresh set of legs.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and TSN said on the latter's "Insider Trading" that the Blue Jackets have had "very recent" talks with the Vancouver Canucks about Pettersson.
The Canucks have been a disappointment this season, with a large part of that involving the on-going tiff between two of their star players: J.T. Miller and Pettersson. It seems inevitable that Vancouver will have to move one of them, with both players signed to long-term contracts.
Earlier this week, Vancouver President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford confirmed the spat between the players, saying "there's too much going on in the room for everybody to concentrate on what they're supposed to do."
#Canucks Rutherford to @garymasonglobe putting to rest once and for all any question that a rift in the room most certainly exists pic.twitter.com/xvAF14Ac5o
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) January 28, 2025
Enter the Blue Jackets.
With loads of cap space, draft picks, and prospects, Columbus is one of very few ideal trading partners for Vancouver for when an eventual move is made.
"Certainly, a team to talk about would be the Columbus Blue Jackets," LeBrun said on Insider Trading. "It's not surprising because they've got massive salary cap space and so as the Canucks make their rounds and talk to different teams on both J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, the conversation with the Jackets is on Elias Pettersson."
"We'll see whether these preliminary discussions, some of them very recent, can go next-level," said LeBrun.
Pettersson, 26, is in the first year of a massive, eight-year contract extension he received less than a year ago. His annual cap hit will be $11.6 million through the 2031-32 season, at which point he'll be 33 years old.
The Swedish center has struggled this season, scoring just 11 goals and adding 21 assists for 32 points through 44 games. But in each of the last three seasons, Pettersson notched at least 30 goals in each year and had 102 and 89 points in the last two full seasons, respectively.
Whether or not it's the tiff with Miller or if something else afoot is a key question for any team considering such a large, long-term investment.
"I think for Columbus it's the same question that all the other teams that have talked to Vancouver have — including a team like Buffalo — who is Elias Pettersson right now? The Pettersson of old warranted that massive extension, but the one we've seen over the past year has a lot of teams wondering how much they want to give up," said LeBrun.
INSIDER TRADING
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MORE: https://t.co/uQe0tbKvHb pic.twitter.com/OwWCCoIZyJ
The acquisition of a player like Pettersson would, despite his struggles this season, make an immediate impact for any team in the NHL.
Already a four-time NHL All-Star, Pettersson is a true center and while that (for the first time in a long time, or perhaps ever) is not a dire need for the Blue Jackets right now, there's no such thing as having too many centers. That's been proven this season with the injuries to top centers Sean Monahan and Boone Jenner, despite Adam Fantilli blossoming in his expanded role over recent weeks.
There was no mention as to what the Blue Jackets might give in return or what the Canucks' asking price is, but LeBrun speculated that it could become a bit of a waiting game.
"What I'm sensing around the market, whether it's Miller or Pettersson, is teams are waiting to see if the Canucks are willing to bring their asking price down on either player before they engage more fully," said LeBrun.
While a trade would almost certainly involve multiple players, it is worth noting that Vancouver is limited on future high-round draft capital. The Canucks are without a third-round pick in both 2025 and 2026 and are without their second-rounder in 2027.
Columbus, meanwhile, has two first-rounders this summer, six picks in the first four rounds in 2026, and five picks in the first three rounds of the 2027 draft — much of that as a result of the David Jiricek trade earlier this season.
For a Blue Jackets team that is on the bubble of an unexpected playoff berth, the waiting game is a smart one to play. How they play over the next number of weeks — particularly in the six games before the Four Nations Face-Off Break — could determine their true level of interest in Pettersson and what they're willing to part with to get him.
Depending on the return, adding Pettersson around the same time that Jenner and Monahan come back from injuries would provide Columbus with all the momentum in the world to not only make the postseason, but make noise in it, too.
