Elliotte Friedman drops a bombshell on the Vancouver Canucks.

The Vancouver Canucks are having a terrific season and the last thing the team needs is some internal drama to derail things, but that may very well be what they got on Saturday night.

National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman dropped a bombshell regarding the Canucks on Saturday night when he revealed that rival teams around the NHL have started to call the Canucks regarding one of their top stars.

"One of the things that I think has developed over the last couple of weeks in Vancouver is the amount of noise around [Elias] Pettersson," revealed Friedman on Saturday. "I think what that has led to is teams calling the Canucks and saying 'What exactly is going on here and could he be available?'"

Pettersson has of course been a lifelong Canuck and is an integral part of the current Canucks core, but there has been talk as of late of a massive contract offer from the Canucks not being accepted by Pettersson. That in turn has no doubt led to some of this talk around the Swedish forward, talk that has led to rival NHL teams believing they could pry the talented forward away from Vancouver.

It doesn't sound like the Canucks are looking to move Pettersson at this time, which comes as no surprise, but if the two sides are unable to come to an agreement on a new deal things could change quickly.

"The Canucks do not want to comment on this, they feel the noise is already enough, but they are telling teams 'We are trying to sign him and that is our goal,'" said Friedman in conclusion.

Pettersson will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season so the Canucks have a measure of control in this situation, but in spite of that a distraction of this nature is the last thing a team needs heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs.