While the Vancouver Canucks may have temporarily saved their season with a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, the trade rumours and turmoil within the club have not subsided.
In fact, the Mikko Rantanen trade from Friday night may have actually made things worse, as Canucks star J.T. Miller was a hot candidate to end up with the Carolina Hurricanes before things played out the way they did. So, where did the Buffalo Sabres come from?
Well, according to multiple reports, including this one from NHL insider Pierre LeBrun, Canucks center Elias Pettersson nearly ended up a Hurricane himself. Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman corroborated this report on Sportsnet's most recent "Saturday Headlines" segment.
"There was a time yesterday where I thought [Elias Pettersson] was going to be a Carolina Hurricane. Obviously, it didn't happen," Friedman said. "I think those talks continue, and I believe one of the teams that's really shown a lot of interest is Buffalo. There are others, but the Sabres are definitely in there."
What the Canucks need from the Sabres in an Elias Pettersson trade
Over the course of this saga, it's been established that the Canucks want a top-four defenceman in return for either Pettersson or Miller in addition to a young center to replace them. The Sabres, as a team that annually stockpiles talent to do nothing with it, are uniquely positioned to satisfy both requirements.
The Sabres are 30th in the NHL with an 18-26-5 record despite having scored only five fewer goals than the 30-18-2 Toronto Maple Leafs, for example. The offence has been good enough, but the defence? Well...
At the center position, Dylan Cozens, 23, is having another tough year. The 2019 No. 7 overall pick burst onto the scene two seasons ago in 2022-23, racking up 31 goals, 37 assists, and 68 points in 81 games in his second full season of NHL action.
In the 128 games Cozens has played since then, he has just 28 goals, 43 assists, and 71 points. The 6-foot-3 pivot is also in the second year of the seven-year, $49.7 million contract he signed on Feb. 7, 2023. Effectively, Cozens had one strong season, earned a pig payday, and hasn't been the same since. Sound familiar?
Other players who might be attractive options for the Canucks include 20-year-old Jiri Kulich, who is just starting to hit his stride at the NHL level, 24-year-old Peyton Krebs, whose potential is still unrealized, and wingers like Zach Benson, Isak Rosen, and Jack Quinn.
On defence, the Sabres have three guys who all excel at the same thing. Captain Rasmus Dahlin is clearly the best of them, while Owen Power and Bowen Byram shuffle in behind.
Power, 21, was drafted first overall in 2021 and has already inked a seven-year, $58.45 million contract extension ($8.35 million AAV) to stay in Buffalo.
Byram, 23, is a pending RFA who was drafted fourth overall by Colorado in 2019, has played 60 or more games in an NHL season just once in his career, and has yet to score 30 points in a season despite his talents. He's on pace to play more than 60 games and record 30 points for the first time, but the Sabres are in the NHL's basement. With his injury history, Byram's next contract will be crucial for the team that signs it.
In a deal like the one above, the Canucks upgrade via diminishing returns. Going from Pettersson to Cozens is a downgrade - potentially a huge one if he can't turn his play around - but Power and Benson are upgrades on Soucy and Lekkerimaki.
Lekkerimaki has yet to nail down a roster spot in Vancouver, but Benson, through two NHL seasons, has 19 goals and 46 points. Benson, the 13th overall pick from 2023, has actually regressed in terms of production from a year ago.
Aside from Pettersson and Cozens, these two young wingers could stand to benefit from changes in scenery, too. And while this is merely the framework for an idea of what a Pettersson trade could look like, the Canucks must come away with at least two young, NHL-ready assets who they really believe in.