Sekeres and Price: Blake Price, Matt Sekeres and Jeff Paterson discuss the contract situation between the Vancouver Canucks and Elias Pettersson.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Price: “I’m not meaning to refute Elliotte Friedman because I don’t think it was necessarily a report, I think it was him sort of spitballing to some degree. But I’m just going to say it because I don’t believe that for a second.
I don’t believe the Canucks are not committed to Elias Pettersson. I don’t believe that the Canucks don’t believe in Elias Pettersson.
Do they think that is agent is asking for too much right now? That’s very possible, but that happens in every negotiation. I don’t think this speaks to the long-term interest of the Canucks in Elias Pettersson at all. I don’t believe that.”
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Paterson: “It shouldn’t. Yeah it caught me off guard like everybody else. I don’t think Elliotte is making this stuff up. I wouldn’t suggest that for a second. I do think he’s as informed as anybody that covers this league. And that information came from somewhere.”
Sekeres: “I think it came from the owner guys. I think that’s his source with the team. I think Francesco has long talked to Elliotte and I think Francesco’s ego’s out of joint that Elias Pettersson’s unsigned on the eve the season and needs more time to look at this Canucks franchise and see if it’s going in the right direction.
I also think it’s quite right. Frank Seravalli has told us this in the past that the Canucks have not yet gotten to number figure that will get Elias Pettersson to re-sign.
And guys, this is all happening in a context of Rasmus Dahlin re-signing in Buffalo and of course the Winnipeg Jets getting Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele re-sign. And you can argue with those contracts and maybe say they’re too much and Hellebuyck and Scheifele are too old, but the bottom line is, other teams are getting their business done and locking their stars up on the eve of the season while the Vancouver Canucks twiddle their fingers and hope Elias signs at the end of the year.”
Paterson: “Yeah. Again, this uncertainty that we all talked about all summer and people didn’t want to hear about because it was the offseason and they have time on their side but we’ve arrived at the start of the season.
So, if Elias Pettersson gets off to a slow start, it’s human nature that this would be in the back of mind somewhere. About the future, the contract, the dollar amounts. He’s already made a ton of dough but he is setting himself up for the rest of his life, his family’s life. This is big time stuff, and you can image if this is weighing on him in any way.
And so his start is tied directly to this team’s start. We know the importance there of, for the Vancouver Canucks. So the people that want this swept under the rug, they have to give their head a shake. They’re the ones that aren’t living in the reality that this kind of stuff does impact players at the highest level.
You’re right, other teams were able to get their business done before the season started. And for the Vancouver Canucks this is going to be an ongoing saga that they had an opportunity to nip in the bud but have elected not too.”
Price: “Before we leave this, do you believe that they will honestly wait until the end of the season or would you be surprised at all if, you know, November 15th a contract gets signed? January 11th a contract gets signed? Do you think they’re going to live by that?”
Paterson: “I won’t be shocked if a deal comes out of the blue but at the same time there are two sides to this negotiation. Pettersson’s made it pretty clear he wants to take a wait and see approach.
Obviously, he’s a huge part of the start and the overall success of the season but again, things go sideways and we saw quickly last year how it can slip out of control and really the year before that, the 25 game mark where they had to undergo the entire house cleaning.
I do think Elias Pettersson is in a bit of wait and see mode here but we also know that Patrik Allvin seems to like the element of surprise. The J.T. Miller contract came out of nowhere. Brock Boeser, what was it, heading into the Easter long-weekend, whenever they got that deal done. The Horvat deal we all kind of thought we could let our guard down for the All-Star break and boom on the Monday Bo Horvat’s no longer a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
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So the Canucks seem to like to operate in that regard if a Pettersson deal materialized, I find it hard to believe that somebody wouldn’t catch wind of it somewhere along the way, but again I do think there is some history with this management trying their best to keep the negotiations, you know, keep a lid on them.”