Vancouver Canucks almost traded Pettersson and now Buffalo is interested: report
The Vancouver Canucks have been working the phones and it appears a new team has emerged in a potential Elias Pettersson trade.
It certainly sounds like the Canucks were very close to a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday before Mikko Rantanen was traded. And it appears Pettersson, not J.T. Miller, was the Canucks star player being discussed.
“There was a time [Friday] I thought Pettersson was gonna be a Carolina Hurricane,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on Hockey Night in Canada yesterday. “Obviously it didn’t happen.”
Hearing lots of meetings today at Rogers Arena. Something brewing.
— Jason Brough 🙁 (@SadClubCommish) January 24, 2025
Friedman is now pegging the Buffalo Sabres as a potential trade partner, among other teams, for Pettersson.
“I believe that one of the teams that has really shown a lot of interest is Buffalo,” Friedman reported. “There are others, but the Sabres are definitely in there.”
Coming off a HUGE trade in the NHL, @FriedgeHNIC breaks it all down in this week's Saturday Headlines. 📰 pic.twitter.com/gt1A1tPQ17
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 26, 2025
The Sabres are an interesting trading partner as they are not the type of team you would expect to make such a big move for a superstar player like Pettersson. Buffalo will almost certainly miss the playoffs this season as they sit dead-last in the Eastern Conference.
Trading for Pettersson in the middle of the season feels like a move that a contending team would make, but as the Sabres near their 14th-straight season without a playoff appearance, it’s clear that GM Kevyn Adams is feeling like a major shakeup is in order.
The Canucks should be looking for two key pieces in any Pettersson trade: a top-six centerman and a top-four defenceman. As luck would have it, the Sabres have two guys that fit the bill for that type of trade.
Rumours have swirled this season about the Canucks’ interest in Bowen Byram, a 23-year-old defenceman who is playing top-pairing minutes in Buffalo. Byram has struggled the past few seasons but remains a talented player with plenty of potential.
On top of that, there have also been rumours that teams around the NHL have been calling the Sabres about trading for 23-year-old centreman Dylan Cozens, the ninth-overall draft pick back in 2019. Similarly to Byram, Cozens has been struggling over the past couple of seasons after recording a career-best 31-goal and 68-point season back in 2022-23.
The framework for a Pettersson swap for Byram and Cozens seems like it could work for both teams involved. Whether or not it gets done is a whole other story.
Clarity on the situation shouldn’t take too long as the NHL trade deadline is less than two months away. If Pettersson does get traded, expect it to happen before July 1, when his no-movement clause kicks in.