NHL Trade Rumors: Marcus Pettersson Linked to Pacific Division Team

With the Pittsburgh Penguins in "sell mode", despite the claims that it's not a fire sale, vultures will start circling, and rival team observers will start looking for fits.

Thomas Drance and Harman Dayal of The Athletic have proposed that Penguins pending UFA Marcus Pettersson would be a prime target for the Vancouver Canucks.

Pettersson stands out as a familiar face for Canucks management who could help address their most pressing need.
(President of hockey operations Jim) Rutherford and (GM Patrik) Allvin have some history with Pettersson. He was acquired by their regime in Pittsburgh in a reclamation project trade with the Anaheim Ducks back in 2018. It was a deal that proved to be a home run when Pettersson established himself as a top-four mainstay.

Another factor that makes a trade between the two teams viable is the fact that Rutherford and Penguins GM Kyle Dubas have their own history of making deals, going back to the Phil Kessel trade when Dubas was in Toronto and Rutherford in Pittsburgh.

The one problem that could get in the way of such a deal with Pettersson, however, is that the Penguins have said they're valuing young players above draft picks in any trade returns this season.

"The Canucks would probably prefer to part with raw, uncut futures as opposed to dealing young NHL contributors in searching for blue-line help," write Drance and Dayal, "but while that would complicate a potential trade, it wouldn’t necessarily make a deal unworkable".