I agree that the messaging is intentional, but what benefit do they get from a trade perspective by airing out their dirty laundry on a player they want to move on from? The rift stuff gave them enough to put the league on notice behind the scenes about their intentions without ripping him in public.
To me there’s three potential explanations:
- They think public embarrassment will motivate him.
- They want to move on but know the fans will be pissed if they trade him, so they want to start managing the messaging now so they have something to point to if they do trade him.
- They don’t actually want to trade him but want to pump up the value of another player (presumably either Boeser or Miller), by making it seem like they are reluctant to move the others, making it easier to drive a hard bargain.
I think this is generally correct. To me, its pretty clear that the Canucks management are in win-now mode, and I think, on paper, they feel pretty set up front and probably think they are a move or two a way on defense to really contending. And I also think that they understand that they will lose and Pettersson or Miller trade, and that it would be a significant step back in terms of being contenders over the next year or two. So, I think trading one of Miller or Pettersson would be the absolute worst case scenario for this management, and I doubt they even consider it unless we have missed the playoffs at least once all the whiles significant issues continue between the two players.
So, I think we can safely eliminate "trade signals" as the reason for the public statements on Pettersson. And, given that Tocchett has already spoken several times about Pettersson with the general message being that he needs to be better, and given that Pettersson hasn't improved, I think its most likely that they are just elevating this by trying a different message. One can assume they have already tried private methods which have also failed.
Its a bold choice though. You rarely see GM so publicly disparage their players, and doubly so when its a player that said GM signed to the largest contract in club history. I don't want to say it reeks of desperation, but its also a pretty elevated response to poor play. It really does make you wonder what has already gone on behind closed doors to get to this point.