Elias Pettersson Trade Reportedly Not Eyed by Canucks Ahead of NHL Draft amid Rumors

Despite Elias Pettersson being the subject of trade rumors dating back to last offseason, the Vancouver Canucks are not looking to move the forward, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported Monday.

A full no-move clause in Pettersson's contract kicks in July 1, which would make him significantly more difficult to trade since he would have the right to veto any deal.

However, LeBrun noted that the Canucks are "encouraged by Pettersson's approach" this offseason, which is perhaps playing a role in their desire to keep him.

The 26-year-old Pettersson is coming off a highly disappointing season in 2024-25, as injuries limited him to 64 games. He finished with only 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points to go along with a minus-10 rating.

Aside from the 2020-21 season when he played in only 26 games due to injury, Pettersson set career worsts in goals, assists, points and plus/minus rating last season.

Pettersson was coming off the two best seasons of his career entering the 2024-25 campaign. In 2022-23, he set career highs with 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points. He followed that up with 34 goals and 55 assists for 89 points in 2023-24.

The Swedish forward was named an All-Star each of those two seasons, giving him four All-Star selections for his career. He also won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2019 as NHL Rookie of the Year.

As a reward for his 2022-23 and 2023-24 performances, the Canucks signed Pettersson to an eight-year, $92.8 million contract extension in March 2024.

Per Spotrac, that made Pettersson the seventh-highest-paid player in the NHL in terms of average annual value at $11.6 million per season.

The extension temporarily paused trade rumors, but given how poorly he played last season, there was at least some speculation that the Canucks would look to offload Pettersson and his sizable contract this offseason.

LeBrun's report suggests that is unlikely to happen, though, meaning the Canucks expect Pettersson to be a key contributor in 2025-26 and beyond, as they look to rebound from missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five years last season.