Elias Pettersson's name is bouncing around Edmonton Oilers trade chatter again this week, and it is not hard to see why.
Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer has been teasing a "distressed asset" trade target at forward since late May. He brought the phrase back out again this week.
He told TSN's Ryan Rishaug on the Got Yer Back podcast last week that he envisions Edmonton landing a player off a team either out of it, or dumping salary to chase a bigger star.
Rishaug pushed back on air, telling Stauffer he already has a name in mind and is stringing fans along on purpose. Stauffer did not deny it.
Today, Stauffer circled back to the idea again. He said the Oilers will have cap space and might need to get creative to land a Top 6 forward.
His exact words: a distressed asset, a Top 9 forward, preferably right shot, from a team going big game hunting that needs to shed salary for a reduced return.
Nobody in Oilers Nation is saying Pettersson's name out loud yet. But look at what he is doing in Vancouver, and the profile fits a little too well.
Vancouver's 58-point season adds weight to the Pettersson chatter
He put up 51 points in 74 games last season for the Canucks, a decent number until you notice the minus-30 sitting next to it.
His finish was worse. No goals over his last 10 games, six assists, and a minus-7 stretch on a $11,600,000 cap hit that Vancouver has to live with.
That contract right now reads like a mortgage payment on a house that keeps losing value every year it sits on the books.
Vancouver's whole season backs it up. The Canucks finished 25-49-8, dead last in the league at 32nd overall, with a minus-100 goal differential.
Edmonton already knows what a beatdown against this Canucks team looks like. The Oilers closed the season by hammering Vancouver 6-1 in their last meeting.
Here is where Edmonton's need comes in. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored 56 points on a $5,125,000 deal, but the middle six still needs more juice behind Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Is a struggling $11.6 million forward actually the answer to that, or just a name that sounds good in September?
Handing that cap hit to a player trending the wrong way is a bad bet dressed up as a bargain. That is the risk Stauffer keeps circling.
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Stauffer has not said the name. Vancouver has not picked up the phone. But the cap crunch in Edmonton and the standings gap in Vancouver are doing a lot of the talking already.
Should the Oilers actually trade for Elias Pettersson?
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