Pettersson's not negotiating and Canucks fans are starting to get nervous
Everything really has gone right for the Vancouver Canucks this season.
Well, except for one thing.
Elias Pettersson still hasn’t put pen to paper on a new contract. In fact, he doesn’t even want to discuss signing an extension yet.
That’s his right, and before the start of the season, it was understandable. Having played five years for a mostly dysfunctional team, and only making it to the playoffs once in his career, people understood wanting to wait.
But given how this season has gone, how can you not have confidence in Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin, Rick Tocchet, and the rest of this Canucks organization? There’s work to be done to maintain this success in future seasons, but the Canucks are currently a Stanley Cup contender.
And yet, Pettersson still isn’t ready to talk contract.
Allvin was asked by Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre if he believes that Pettersson wants to remain with the Canucks. It was a straightforward question, but he did not provide a straightforward answer.
“I do believe that he wants to be a part of a good team,” Allvin said.
Asked if this situation was unusual, with Pettersson wanting to wait, Allvin admitted it was.
The doomsday scenario is that Pettersson refuses to sign more than a one-year extension, which would walk him to unrestricted free agency in one year. That’s what Matthew Tkachuk did in Calgary in 2022, which effectively forced the Flames to trade him. The Canucks, in that scenario, would likely need to trade Pettersson this summer or risk losing him for nothing in 2025.
Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal, of the Donnie and Dhali show on CHEK, says that while frustration is growing, there’s no indication yet that Pettersson won’t re-sign at some point.
“There’s no doubt the Canucks are frustrated,” Dhaliwal said this morning.
“I have no intel that suggests anyone’s mad or upset. As of right now, I can tell you that there’s no indication that Pettersson doesn’t want to re-sign in Vancouver.”
That’s reassuring, but it begs the question: so what’s the holdup? That’s a question nobody seems to know the answer to, and it’s understandably making Canucks fans nervous.
"It doesn't look like Pettersson is gonna rush into this. There's gonna have to be a high level of patience Don.."@DonTaylor5 and @DhaliwalSports react to @imacSportsnet Q&A with Patrik Allvin and Elias Pettersson's contract.https://t.co/h4e2SKM7eJ pic.twitter.com/ixVcrIHJ47
— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) January 18, 2024
If Pettersson was following the Tkachuk playbook, this would be the way to do it.
On the other hand, if Pettersson wants to really cash in, making Canucks management sweat a little bit is probably a great strategy. He can pretty much write his own cheque at this point.
Or perhaps Pettersson just wants as much information as possible before deciding how long to commit to the franchise.
“I still don’t know myself if it’s going to be short-term or long-term,” Pettersson told Elliotte Friedman in the summer. “It’s gonna be probably my biggest contract so far and so I don’t want to stress anything.”
Whatever the reason, long-suffering Canucks fans just hope it results in No. 40 staying put in Vancouver.