Elias Pettersson to the Pittsburgh Penguins is the newest idea floating around his name, and it comes with an unusual pitch.
Sekeres and Price raised the idea this week, and the reasoning centers on one very specific teammate.
"Elias Pettersson to Pittsburgh makes a lot of sense, if you can't put it together after watching the way number 87, Sidney Crosby, the ultimate pro, prepares, you're never going to," the show argued.
The idea is that Pettersson's struggles are as much about habits and environment as raw talent, and Crosby is about as good a model as exists in hockey.
Crosby is still producing at 38 years old. He posted 29 goals and 45 assists for 74 points over 68 games this past season.
He was even better late, piling up 12 points over his final 10 games, proof the professionalism talk is not just reputation at this point.
Pittsburgh's own season adds context to the idea
Pittsburgh finished 41-25-16 for 98 points and 10th overall this season, a real playoff team even after Philadelphia eliminated them in the first round.
Pettersson's own season looked nothing like that. He posted just 51 points with a minus-30 rating for a Vancouver team that finished dead last in the league.
Vancouver closed the year 25-49-8 with a minus-100 goal differential, exactly the kind of season that fuels speculation about a fresh start elsewhere.
Pettersson still carries an $11.6 million cap hit, a real number for any team taking on that kind of reclamation project.
Nothing here suggests an actual deal is close. It is a media pitch built around chemistry and example-setting, not a reported trade discussion.
The full segment from Sekeres and Price lays out the case in more detail.
-
Whether proximity to Crosby would actually fix what has gone wrong for Pettersson is a much harder question than the pitch makes it sound.
Would playing with Sidney Crosby actually fix Elias Pettersson?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Things just hit a new low for the Vancouver Canucks after latest report
