The Hurricanes went 1-1-0 over the past week. Last season, the Carolina Hurricanes were deeply involved in trade talks with the Vancouver Canucks around center Elias Pettersson [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/latest-news/report-canes-involved-in-trade-discussions-surrounding-elias-pettersson]. "According to multiple sources, the Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes had discussions about Elias Pettersson that advanced to a stage where both the Canucks and the player needed to make serious decisions about where their relationship was headed," said Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman back in February. "The Canucks ultimately decided in favour of another attempt at extending Pettersson, and he, facing the possibility Vancouver could move him, allowed agents Pat Brisson and JP Barry to resume negotiations." The Swede was an upcoming RFA and a potential holdout was a big worry for the Canucks, so they engaged with the Hurricanes on what a potential trade package would look like. According to Thomas Drance and Rick Daliwhal of The Athletic, [https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5311931/2024/03/02/elias-pettersson-canucks-contract-extension/] Carolina's offer was a serious one. "More serious than people realize." According to them, the offer was built around a pair of roster players, a first-round pick and an additional high-end prospect. So whether it was just a bargaining tactic to get Pettersson to sign early or not (he signed an eight-year, $92.8 million deal not long after), you don't get that deep into discussions without seriously considering moving said player. Now, Pettersson could once again potentially be on the trade block. According to new reports by Friedman [https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/saturday-headlines-canucks-ask-pettersson-and-miller-to-sort-it-out/], the rift between Vancouver's top forwards, Pettersson and J.T. Miller has grown exponentially so much to the point where it's starting to bleed into the room and it's also taking a toll on the organization from players to coaching staff and even those in the hockey operations department. "The Canucks had thought it was solved last year," Friedman said. "The team had a great year, the two players had a great year and they thought they had moved past this. Obviously that wasn't the case." It's gotten so bad that even Canucks captain Quinn Hughes and coach Rick Tocchet spoke on the rift. "100%, I believe it's workable," Hughes said. "I know it's workable. We saw it last year. I think that both of them have been going through their own struggles this year. I believe in both of them. I think they're great players, great people." "It happens all the time," Tocchet said. "You don't have to play Playstation together. You don't have to go to dinner with each other. But if it's your turn to go to the net, go to the net. That's really what it comes down to." At the end of the day, you just simply can't have a locker room with a division that large and it seems like Vancouver is eventually going to have to do something about it. So why doesn't Carolina pop back in and see what the price may be? The Canes need an established top-six centerman and Pettersson could even arguably be slotted above franchise cornerstone Sebastian Aho. The two hurdles for them would be A) moving out the cap space necessary to acquire the talented Swede and B) coming up with the necessary pieces for what will almost certainly be a steep asking price. Pettersson has a cap hit of $11.6 million and the Canes only have around $2 million in cap space, the team would really have to work to make room, but Pettersson's cost would certainly help with that. It was rumored that the young roster players that the Hurricanes were offering back in February were Martin Necas ($6.5 million AAV) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($4.82 million AAV). The two would certainly free up the necessary money, but would it be enough? Necas is off to a tremendous start to the year with 44 points in 32 games this season and Kotkaniemi has 15 points in 32 games. The Canes may be less willing to move Necas now given how he's breaking out and looking like a true star, but it seems like Kotkaniemi is on a very short leash in Carolina and both sides would probably welcome a change at this point. Another potential name could be that of Andrei Svechnikov who has 12 goals and 25 points this year. Svechnikov ($7.75 million AAV) is an attractive player combining a large, physical frame with a relentless offensive drive, but he just hasn't been able to put all the tools together yet in his young career. However, due to the rarity of true power forwards in the league today and Carolina's lack of size in their top six especially, I strongly doubt the Canes would be wanting to move Svechnikov. If you want to get a star in this league, you have to give up something valuable, so any trade for Pettersson is going to cost Carolina something they don't want to lose. So it's just a matter of how much value does a top-15 centerman have in their eyes versus the value of what they'd have to give up? Matthew Tkachuck is a trade I always think back to in terms of trading for star talent. Florida gave up a 100-point winger in Jonathan Huberdeau and a solid defenseman in MacKenzie Weegar, but Tkachuk was the piece they needed and they won the Stanley Cup last year with him. I'm just some writer though and I have no idea how either front office thinks, so I'm not sure how a deal like this would actually shake out. But if you're not at least poking around at this point, what are you even doing?
