Elias Pettersson’s Agent Discusses Whether The Canucks Will Trade Him Or Not

The rumour mill has been churning rapidly in Vancouver Canucks land, with seemingly no players safe from any potential moves. Elias Pettersson has been one of the many players brought up as of late, as many see it as a means to move on from his contract. With so much dialogue surrounding Pettersson, the centre’s agent, J.P. Barry, joined Donnie and Dhali this morning to discuss the player’s trade rumours.  

“I take it with a grain of salt because when a team isn’t doing well, everybody’s going to be discussed, we’ve talked about it in the past, it’s always hard for us when it’s a player who has a no-move, but that’s the reality of where things are when things don’t go well. For us, we know it’s not real unless the GM is calling us and saying that there’s an actual team or deal and would you consider it. 9 out of 10 times it’s just a rumour,” Barry explained in today’s interview. 

Part of what would complicate a Pettersson trade is the fact that he has a no-move clause in his contract. To trade him, Canucks management would have to discuss with Pettersson’s team regarding whether he’d waive the clause or not. 

“Where it gets problematic is when things get public in that area, like people think that the player should automatically waive to whoever they want to waive to. The reality is that when you have the leverage to have a no-move, you’re basically purchasing that for sometimes a million dollars or more. The player retains the right to go to a spot that he wants to go to, and it’ll open up that kind of dialogue, but that hasn’t happened yet and yeah, obviously it has to be a location that works for both sides.”

Barry was also asked about whether he thought Pettersson was happy in Vancouver or not. It’s no secret that the team hasn’t been performing the way they would have liked.  

“Yeah, I think he’s happy. No one’s happy when they’re losing. He committed to be there and try to make the best of it, and he’s going to do that, and I’m sure there’s going to be all kinds of discussions at the end of this year about every player on that team, so we can’t avoid that.” 

The agent also specified that, while things weren’t looking great for Pettersson on the ice, the forward seems as though he’s trending back up towards how he has played in the past. Recovering that 100-point form will be important for the Canucks regardless of whether they are leaning towards trading him or not at some point in the future. To Barry, it appears as though his client is taking steps to returning to that form. 

“I think he’s trending back up. Obviously who he plays with and the personnel is going to impact him and how good the team is, but he’s still a young player and if he’s surrounded by the right cast I think he can do really well. We definitely had some low points but I think he’s trending back up and that’s probably why there’s all these rumours.” 

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