Rumor: Canucks don't want to keep Elias Pettersson!?

The Vancouver Canucks are set to begin their first drama free regular season in a long time... 

Just kidding!

It's the Canucks... there's no such thing as 'drama free' when it comes to this team.

After a season in which they fired their fan favorite head coach, traded their fan favorite captain and did seemingly everything wrong off the ice and on the ice, the Canucks and their fanbase were looking forward to a much more straight forward campaign in 2023-24. The problem though, is that GM Patrik Allvin didn't take care of his biggest job this past offseason. Allvin, of course, neglected to sign superstar center Elias Pettersson to a new contract this past summer and so now Pettersson will be surrounded by rumor reports and hearsay all season long. Until he signs a new deal, at least.

But here's the thing...

While there have been reports out there that Pettersson himself wanted to see progress from the team and its head office before committing long-term, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman now reports that the Canucks themselves aren't so sure that they want to commit to Pettersson.

In Friedman's own words:

"Since Pettersson came out and said, 'I'm not sure yet.' I think the Canucks have also kind of indicated, you know what we're not sure either, because if there's any doubt Pettersson wants to make a commitment, I'm not convinced that they (Canucks) want to make a commitment."

- Elliotte Friedman

This team will never cease to confound me.

A 30 year old JT Miller? Yup, sign that man to an 8 year contract.

A 24 year old Elias Pettersson? Nah... we're just not sure yet. We can't make a commitment.

What on EARTH is this management team doing?

For what it's worth, the Canucks have just Miller, Brock Boeser, Andrei Kuzmenko, Conor Garland, Pius Suter and Nils Hoglander signed beyond next season in their forward ranks. On the back end they've got just Quinn Hughes and Carson Soucy signed beyond next season. This is a team that's going to see a LOT of turnover amongst their roster in the next year or two and will have plenty of salary freed up to sign Pettersson. Sign the kid and move forward already...