The Vancouver Canucks are currently in a rough spot as the trade rumours continue to intensify on both Elias Pettersson and J.T Miller. With one of them possibly being moved ahead of the trade deadline, can the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in the mix?
There’s no denying that both players are currently elite and would help just about every team in the league. For most of the last month or so, Miller was the name that was prominently featured in rumours, however things have changed over the last week or so to a point where Pettersson is equally available.
General Manager Daniel Brière joined TSN Overdrive the other day and discussed all things Flyers, including where they’re currently positioned. While a lot of it was typical front office mumbo-jumbo, it was hard not to feel like what he was saying aligns with what his predecessor was trying to accomplish as well.
Chuck Fletcher notoriously changed the Flyers’ path several times from rebuild to aggressive rebuild to retool to an aggressive retool before finally being relieved of his duties as both GM and President. Brière was his assistant GM at the time and was named as the interim before finally receiving the official promotion in the ensuing summer.
The Flyers ushered into the “New Era of Orange” and it gave the fan base a lot more hope after a disastrous tenure from Fletcher. However many feel like he has become another Fletcher or even another Ron Hextall with his recent verbiage and with some of the reports coming out that they don’t intend on moving Scott Laughton or Rasmus Ristolainen at this very moment.
Whatever the case may be, it’s not the rebuild that many had wanted especially when comparing it to some of their competitors in Chicago and San Jose. There’s a lot of ways you can go about achieving the same result and the Flyers are confident they can get back to contention by establishing an NHL-ready core right here and now, compared to the traditional tanking.
If that is the case, then there’s a centre on the Canucks who is only 26-years-old, already established as a premier offensive option, and is two years removed from a 100-point season. While his contract could be an issue for the Flyers, the Canucks aren’t really in a position of strength at the moment.
Pettersson is signed through 2032 at a cap hit of $11.6 million and considering the Flyers are still cap strapped, there are only a few options they can realistically offer to make a trade work.
Factoring in that Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov are the only untouchable assets, Travis Sanheim and Owen Tippett would be doomsday options at best, that leaves Ristolainen and Joel Farabee as the primary targets.
Their combined cap hits are $10.1 million, which would make sense financially for both clubs considering their lack of cap flexibility. However, the Flyers would then have to add draft capital and at least one top flight prospect to make it more enticing, but would that be enough for the Canucks to give up on who they believed was the 1C of the future?
What helps is that the Canucks have to move at least one of their centers to keep their season afloat. Things have deteriorated so fast since Miller’s return from a personal leave, which coincided with the rumours. While all sides involved tried to squash the rumours, in the sports world when there’s smoke there’s always fire – case in point what has taken place in just a few weeks since.
It still sounds like the Canucks would probably move Miller before Pettersson, but things change on a dime in the NHL and the latter is just as available as the former. The situation is interesting because it’s hard to tell which players is the more – for lack of a better term – “problematic”.
Rick Dhaliwal took to his “Donnie and Dhali” podcast and discussed the rumours. He mentioned that teams are doing their due diligence by scoping the situation and checking in on what and who deteriorated the situation because the last thing contenders want is to bring in a bad apple into a locker room that’s working.
For Pettersson, Dhaliwal believes that the Canucks would want a similar package to what the Sabres received for Jack Eichel. The Vegas Golden Knights sent prospect Peyton Krebs, forward Alex Tuch, and a top-10 protected first round pick for Eichel and a third round pick. The Flyers assuredly have the pieces that match but it comes down to whether or not Brière is willing to take the risk.
Pettersson essentially fits the core’s age, he instantly becomes your best offensive weapon right now, it solves your centre conundrum, gives Matvei Michkov someone to play with either this year or down the road, and the list is nearly endless. The “risk” is whether or not the Flyers can move one of their top-flight prospects since they like holding onto them for dear life.
Of the two players it seems like Pettersson has been the most affected, for whatever reason. In the 17 games from the start of the season to Miller’s personal leave of absence, Pettersson had just 6 goals and 11 points. During Miller’s absence he recorded 15 points in 10 games but that’s dropped to just 2 goals and 1 assist in the 9 games since his return, which included a 6-game goal drought.
Pettersson was placed on IR and had been out of action since the 23rd of December before finally returning to the ice on Friday during a shutout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
On the other hand, Miller hasn’t been as affected – at least in terms of his production as he recorded 16 points in 17 games before his departure and has 13 points in 15 games since returning, which includes 8 points in the 6 games without Pettersson.
The Canucks as a whole went 9-5-3 with both in the lineup before Miller left. During his time away they went 5-3-2, but have gone 5-5-5 since, including a 3-3-4 run over their last 10 games.
TSN Insider Trading touched on the topic as well with Chris Johnston saying the following:
“But in speaking with sources around the league, what I can tell you is there’s a strong sense that trade conversations remain active on both Pettersson and Miller with rival teams at this point in time as Vancouver wants to gauge the marketplace and see what the value of the players are before making any further decisions on next steps. When it comes to Pettersson in particular, it seems as though the Canucks are serious about considering moving him. Multiple teams are believed to have shown interest, and a third party source points out that Carolina and Vancouver did have discussions on Pettersson last season, so that could be a logical landing place now. But multiple teams, as I mentioned, are interested, and there is much to consider for the Canucks.”
With the trade deadline less than 2 months away, things will assuredly heat up, especially in Vancouver as they try to steer the ship back into playoff contention. The 4 Nations Face-Off will be interfering in a way as it’s set to take place in the middle of February and makes you wonder if teams are looking to get deals done before the tournament kicks off.
The Canucks seem more engaged in regards to Miller but they are listening to what other teams are offering for Pettersson. If he does indeed become available, the Flyers have the pieces that the Canucks are looking for and need to be as aggressive as possible – especially if it turns out that he’s not the problem in the locker room.
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