Here's Why Sabres Need To Connect With Retooling Canucks To Acquire Star Center Pettersson

The Vancouver Canucks completed a massive trade with the Minnesota Wild Friday, sending superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Wild for a spectacular package of talent including defenseman Zeev Buium and forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, as well as a 2026 first-round draft pick. But while the Buffalo Sabres reportedly had interest in trading for Hughes, there’s another Canucks target the Sabres should be looking at acquiring – star center Elias Pettersson.

After a tumultuous 2024-25 season that saw him feud with now-former-Canucks center J.T. Miller, Pettersson stayed with the Canucks despite the Sabres being a potential destination in a trade, but while he now has a full no-trade clause as part of his $11.6-million annual salary, Pettersson might be persuaded to waive it if he doesn’t want to be a part of Vancouver’s rebuild. 

You might say that’s Mission: Impossible given where Buffalo is in the standings, but that’s the challenge for Sabres GM Kevyn Adams, right? Your job is to be a salesman. Your job is to figure out how Buffalo can have an advantage, and manipulate that advantage so that NHL players want to be a part of it.

Pettersson is having an OK season in Vancouver, with 14 assists and 22 points in 28 games. That is a pace of 37 goals and 58 points – decent-enough for many NHLers, but when you’re making as much money as Pettersson is, you need to produce more than that. Now, you might say Pettersson’s mediocre numbers are exactly why Buffalo shouldn’t be pursuing him. But if he were thriving, the Canucks wouldn’t be shopping him. So yes, you have to buy low on him. But if the Sabres can put together a package similar to what Vancouver accepted in a trade – meaning young players and draft picks – why not do so and accelerate a retool for Buffalo?

For instance, let’s say you included Sabres blueliner Owen Power, a 2027 first-round pick, and a prospect – say, forward Anton Wahlberg – would that be enough to pry loose Pettersson? They’d be getting an above-average blueliner, an above-average prospect, and a first-rounder that could be extremely high if Buffalo continues to falter next season. The Sabres have more than $2.16-million in salary cap space, but combined with Power’s $8.35-million annual salary, they’d basically have the financial framework necessary to acquire Pettersson.

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A Pettersson deal would be a risk, to be sure. But he’s still only 27 years old, and he might very well value the chance to play with fellow Swede Rasmus Dahlin. Simply escaping the drama and pressure of Vancouver might be enough to (a) convince Pettersson to accept a deal to Buffalo; and (b) show the rest of the Sabres roster that this team isn’t going to be going on another lengthy and painful basement-to-ceiling rebuild. 

Again, we acknowledge that a lot of things would need to fall just right in order for a Pettersson-to-the-Sabres trade to materialize. But if you don’t dream about taking big swings on the trade market, you shouldn’t be an NHL GM. And whether it’s Adams, senior adviser Jarmo Kekalainen or someone else calling the shots in Buffalo, they’d be well-advised to circle back to Vancouver and see if they can’t make a Pettersson trade a reality. 

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Pettersson has shown flashes of brilliance, but it isn’t working out in Canucks Land. And figuring out how to pry him away from Vancouver would be in the Sabres’ best interest.