Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on The Jeff Marek Show on the Vancouver Canucks, Elias Pettersson contract situation.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Mark: “Okay, Elias Patterson and the Vancouver Canucks. What do you hear? What do you know?
Friedman: “Well, obviously, an incredibly wild week. No question about it. I mean, they, look, there’s no doubt they’re talking. Like there’s, there’s no doubt that conversations reignited this week. And it might have, like, I believe that Rick Dhaliwal has reported that it started Tuesday night after their game against Pittsburgh. That there were, that basically it was decided that they were going to try again.
I think that’s the reason for it, like it was, it was like, it was really wild. I was at an event night and you know, the news broke and like, you know, I’ve been following kind of a lot of the reaction. Like, there’s nothing going on, there’s nothing going on and all of a sudden there’s something going on. And I think it was because it really kickstarted again, probably as late as a Tuesday night as Rick indicated.
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I think that it’s, the one thing here is, I can’t figure out yet how it got restarted. Did the Canucks go and say we want to try this again, or did Pettersen go and say, ‘Alright, let’s do this?’
And that’s, I haven’t gotten it confirmed one way or the other ut it’s a, it’s a huge distinction because like there are people who say, ‘Yes, this is going to get done.’ And there are people who say, ‘Pump the breaks, we still have some things to work through here.’
I think this, I think, Jeff, that you know, it’s very possible that, and I would believe likely, that on some levels, the Canucks and Patterson’s reps have had conversations without him knowing. Just in terms of, if they got to a deal, what it could look like.
Like that’s not unusual. That’s not abnormal. There are players who say, you know, like ‘you do the business and you come to me when it’s important.’ And there are teams and agents who say, Look, right now, like a player like Pettersson might not be ready. but let’s, let’s make sure we have an idea of what we’re talking about, in case he comes up to a day where he’s ready. And I so I think that’s probably happened on some level. And I think they’re working through it now.
And you know, I think it comes down to Pettersson if, if you know if he’s ready, I think they’re gonna put obviously a ton of money at him, and we have to see what he has to say.
But you know, the thing is too is that I definitely believe there was a conversation. Like I read Iain MacIntyre story . I spoke to Iain. You saw Tocchets comments . I saw Tocchets to comments , like this is weighing not only on Pettersson, but everyone there. It’s like, there’s enough noise. What I reported on the weekend and, and I do believe there was a team out there who made an offer (the Canucks were talking with the Caroline Hurricanes – can read the quick note here), and then the Canucks just said we’re not doing this right now.
And I just think that noise got to be a lot, and one or the other, went to the other and said, ‘Let’s try this again.’ And there was, there’s an okay, and they’re trying. And I can tell you it’s a very legitimate attempt. Like this is not people just talking for the sake of talking. Like I think everybody here is really trying to see if a deal can get done. And, and we’ll see where it goes.
But look, I think for a long time now, like I said was, I think the Canucks have been ready. I think the reps CAA has been ready if they get the go-ahead to do it. And I just think, you know, it comes down if Pettersson is ready then you know, there we go. But I think we’re still kind of feeling our way through this.
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It’s, look, I mean, again, I think it’s very serious. I just wouldn’t want to handicap it at this time. And not because I don’t believe it’s gonna happen. It’s just that right now as I sit here talking to you at 10:15 Pacific Time (Thursday morning). I don’t I just don’t know if it’s gonna happen or not.”