Yahoo Sports Red Wings Could Take Advantage of Canucks Drama
The biggest national story around the NHL right now comes from Vancouver, where it is widely reported that Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller (the Canucks' two most important forwards) have a growing rift between them. The question than becomes whether that rift is so great that Vancouver can no longer keep both players on its roster and is forced into dealing one in the midst of a season for which the Canucks hold (not unfounded) Stanley Cup aspirations.
Bob Frid, Imagn Images
Should such a trade come to pass, either player—but especially Pettersson, given his age and unique offensive profile—could of course benefit the Red Wings (a team whose lottery luck and free agent strategy has not proved conducive to the acquisition of a certain elite tier of offensive talent and productivity), but then the conversation shifts to exactly what Detroit would need to part with to bring in either star forward.
To begin from the Canucks perspective, the obvious precursor to any trade talks is that a trade is far from optimal. Instead, the best case scenario is that coach Rick Tocchet (known for his skill in relating to and bringing the most of his players) and Vancouver brass find a way to smooth Pettersson and Miller's relationship over sufficiently to avoid a trade in the first place.
However, here, we're envisioning a scenario in which that proves impossible. Because of that dynamic, it seems likely the return the Canucks could get for either player would struggle to approach what we might think of as the departing star's true value. That's an intriguing scenario for any team sniffing around the rift (which one presumes is, at least to some extent, every team in the league, considering the talents involved).
In the featured video, I discuss the potential framework of a Detroit trade to bring in one of Pettersson or Miller (with my own preference for the former over the latter). To make a long story short, I think the Red Wings' interest will be contingent on their ability to make a move without parting with their two foundational pieces of the present and future in Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond. That's not likely to be easy, but depending on the extent to which Vancouver's hand is forced (and how publicly that dynamic plays out), it's not beyond the realm of possibility.
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