Which team would be a good fit for Elias Pettersson?

The Vancouver Canucks are beginning their teardown, having already dealt captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild and power forward Kiefer Sherwood to the San Jose Sharks. Now, there are reports that Elias Pettersson is on the market. While his $11.6 million cap hit will scare of some teams, especially give Pettersson’s performance since signing the deal, but a change of scenery might be what he needs.

So which team would be a good fit for Pettersson? Tyler Yaremchuk and Steve Peters talked about some teams where they could see Pettersson playing well in on Daily Faceoff Live.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The rumblings have been out there for a little bit, and I think there are some fan bases who are intrigued at the possibility of taking on Elias Pettersson. Someone said New York, I don’t think he could survive the New York market. Detroit, I think is interesting, but I don’t know if he’s the right fit there.

The one team that I think is interesting, I think the San Jose Sharks are actually an interesting fit. You have $50+ million dollars in cap space for next season. You could slot him in behind Macklin Celebrini and say, “hey, the pressure’s off. You’re not the face of the franchise anymore. You’re our good, defensive second-line center. We need you to score 70 points a year.” You put him on that power play. Honestly, I think that’s the only team I look at and go, that’s a good, natural fit for him.

Steve Peters: Yeah, it’s frustrating when you look at a player like this that’s making that kind of money for this kind of term, that was expected to be leading this franchise. And you look around the leagues at the teams that are at the top of their game right now. You look at Florida, Colorado, Tampa, Vegas. I don’t know if this is a guy you want to throw into your locker room. Is he a guy that’s going to play Florida Panther hockey? I’m not so sure.

So you’re right. I think this is a fit where, let’s face it, Vancouver is as tough a hockey market as there is in the National Hockey League. San Jose, it’s not. So you want to hide somewhere. You can hide down there in the Valley, easy.

I think his skill level is there. I think he can play a certain style of hockey. I think he still can distribute the puck. I still think he’s got the offensive upside. But to your point, he hasn’t been able to carry a team right now. And I don’t think he has to in San Jose. And I think San Jose’s style of play might fit with him and he’ll have a little less pressure in the room. Maybe it’s a place where he could finally get back to the player that they were hoping to have three years ago, and maybe he can become that.

Because you’re right, I don’t think he can go to the New York market. Good grief, no. In the way they want to play under Mike Sullivan. I just don’t think he fits. So this will be interesting to see if they can get rid of him and what kind of a market is he going to bring back.

You can watch the full episode here…