Elias Pettersson Would Move in Bold Sabres Canucks Trade Proposal

 The Buffalo Sabres badly need to shake things up. A 10-game winless streak surely means that changes will be coming. Head coach Lindy Ruff says he's at a loss for words and finds this the toughest situation he's been in. 

Sabres HC Lindy Ruff was at a loss for words after the team’s winless streak reached 10 games. pic.twitter.com/VD1SFKP5H6

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 16, 2024

But hockey insider Elliotte Friedman wasn't at a loss for words. He thinks he might even have a solution for Buffalo.

On the 32 Thoughts podcast Monday Friedman came up with a hypothetical trade he proposed that could potentially get the Sabres going, and it involves Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks. 

He proposes the following:

I want to stress this is purely in my head, (but) who says no? [Dylan] Cozens and Bowen Byram for Pettersson.'

This deal would swap two massive long term contracts that each team might be regretting. Cozens is in just the second year of a $7.1M AAV pact, while Pettersson is in the first year of an 8-year $11.5M deal. 

Cozens has been garnering plenty of interest around the league this season after a very slow start, with just 13 points in 31 games. 

With 15 points in his last 12 games, Pettersson has shown greater signs of life in recent weeks after a very slow start to the season himself. 

Friedman does feel that that the two teams have talked, but can't say if this specific trade was discussed. He also feels that Vancouver would be more likely to say no to his hypothetical deal, but it's certainly an interesting one to ponder.

How realistic is this proposal? All we can say at this point is that fellow insider Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff (who worked with Friedman for years) said today on The Sheet that for someone like Friedman, so-called 'wild' ideas like this "don’t just come out of the blue.”

Photo:  Bob Frid-Imagn Images