Not really,
IMO Pettersson's value is still sky high with real GMs.
He could probably fetch a young centre that we can hope to build around one day, in other words we can hope to become Elias Pettersson one day..
Kent Johnson
Mason Mctavish
Dylan Cozens
etc etc
I mean,
yes really...
Sure, Pettersson's value is likely still extremely high amongst other GMs. But for the exact reasons the Canucks can't afford to deal him anymore. That window is closed. There is basically the entirety of the non-playoff half of the league and even some playoff teams who are desperately searching for a guy who even has a tiny shred of hope of being a bonafide #1C. Pettersson has actually demonstrated that he can be that guy, in the NHL, for realsies.
When they had the option of trying to build around a different 1C in JT Bozo, it was a question. A fork in the road. But they made their choice.
Kent Johnson hasn't even demonstrated that he's an NHL Center, much less a guy who can hit the heights Pettersson has.
McTavish and Cozens are both players i think are a lot better than their current situations allow them to show...but neither has shown any indications from draft year projection to date, that they're going to be any kind of true #1C. They're both very much in the 2C mold if they can get back on track with nice aspects, but limitations that keep them well short of a 1C and the sort of echelon Pettersson can touch when he's healthy, and has his head in the game.
There's no "etc. etc." The supply of potential 1Cs whom teams would move is practically null. Especially young ones. Zegras is the only other one who comes to mind...and that's a whole new can of worms. Would Rutherford be able to convince Geno Malkin to waive to come to Vancouver? Doubtful and also stupid because he's very old and as much as i love the way he plays, he's clearly slowing down, not a 1C anymore and only going to decline from there. 1C and 1D are
the most impossible assets to find via trade or UFA. You draft and develop these guys, as the Canucks have with Pettersson.
So sure...you could trade the much higher ceiling player in Pettersson for a Kent/McTavish/Cozens...but if you do that, what in the blue heck are you trying to accomplish? What are you actually building towards? You just went out and spent a 1st on an older defenceman in Marcus Pettersson and signed him to a long-term contract. You've got Quinton Hughes who is the engine of your entire team as a UFA in 2.5 years. You don't have time to dither around waiting for a new 1C to fall into your lap. You've dealt away another 1C and a very solid 2C to make nice with Pettersson. If you're not going to build around him, then why on earth are you getting rid of all your other Top-6 Centers?
It's just abundantly clear that the Canucks have made their choice and are going to ride or die with Pettersson, and that's pretty much it. For better or worse.
The new problem is just...finding an actual 2C. And that's probably going to have to be some sort of Boeser package. That's where guys like Cozens, McTavish start to enter the conversation. Probably not directly, but as the sort of "trade for assets and flip elsewhere" deal that Ruthervin have done multiple times over now.
