NHL Rumor Mill – March 24, 2026
Check out the latest speculation on the Canucks and Red Wings in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
CANUCKS FACE A BUSY SUMMER
THE PROVINCE: Patrick Johnston looked at what’s ahead for the rebuilding Vancouver Canucks in the off-season.
Johnston wondered what they would do with Elias Pettersson. He believes the Canucks would be smart to try to trade the 27-year-old center this summer and try to get something of value for him. Johnston felt that Pettersson himself would be smart to ask for a trade, as it’s clear he thinks he needs a fresh start.
Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: There’s a market for Pettersson. Some general managers seeking offensive depth at center will look at his 102-point performance in 2022-23 and believe he can reach those numbers again in a different market with a better roster.
However, Petersson’s $11.6 million average annual value through 2031-32 is the main stumbling block in the path to a trade. Interested clubs will want salary retention as part of the deal, which the Canucks could be unwilling to do.
Pettersson also has a full no-movement clause, which will also hinder the Canucks efforts to get a decent return. The fewer his preferred destinations, the less likely they’ll get something back that can help their rebuild.
Johnston also pointed out that the Canucks’ biggest needs are a No. 1 center, a top-flight winger, and a big-time defenseman.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: They won’t get immediate help for those issues in the trade market. The best they’ll get there are promising youngsters and draft picks that might one day blossom into stars, especially if they win the draft lottery in May.
Johnston’s colleague, Paul Chapman, noted that the Canucks won’t find much help in this summer’s shallow unrestricted free-agent pool. The top centers are an aging Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and 34-year-old Charlie Coyle of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Malkin wants to finish his career in Pittsburgh. If he becomes available, he’s not going to a rebuilding team. The Blue Jackets hope to re-sign Coyle, and he’s likely to stay with them given their impressive improvement this season.
THE RED WINGS’ UNWILLINGNESS TO MOVE PROSPECTS COULD COST THEM A PLAYOFF SPOT.
DAILY FACEOFF: Anthony Di Marco reports a source told him that Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman was unwilling to move any of his top prospects in a prospective trade before the March 6 deadline.
The Red Wings were rumored to have been among the clubs with an interest in St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas. It’s believed the Blues set a high asking price for the 26-year-old Thomas, but the Red Wings’ depth in prospects put them in a good position to meet that price.
Had Yzerman been willing to move a couple of his top prospects for Thomas, Di Marco felt the Blues might’ve been open to a return of a first-round pick, center Nate Danielson, and either Trey Augustine or Sebastian Cossa.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Di Marco pointed out that the Red Wings did make a significant addition by adding right-shot defenseman Justin Faulk. However, they failed to acquire a reliable first or second-line center. Thomas would’ve been an excellent fit given his age (26) and offensive talent.
The Red Wings are struggling down the stretch again, dropping out of the final wild-card berth over the weekend. If they miss the playoffs again, critics will point to their inability (or unwillingness) to make a major move when they had the assets and the salary-cap space to do so.
Di Marco wonders if that could cost Yzerman his job. Missing the playoffs for 10 straight years, with the last seven seasons on Yzerman’s watch, could force ownership to consider a shake-up in the front office.
Wings’ season has to finally cost Stevie Y his job. 10 years of no playoffs is Sabre-esque.
Centers were prohibitively costly, NO ONE else acquired Trocheck or Thomas or Petterson, and Kadri was too old for the term he had left. Y did good to address one of the issues on D, with a very expensive Faulk. Stevie did not have a crystal ball to see that his 2 main C’s and his 2 best prospect C’s in the AHL would ALL go down at the same time.
Yzerman should offer Vancouver something small , a 2nd? and take the full hit of Pettersson, he has the cap space. Can you make a conditional of a player hitting 35 goals or 90 points any time during the contract being worth a first top 10 protected?
You know Johnny, at some point you have to get off your best intensions and make a deal that is going to move the team forward. The Wings are sitting on 9 seasons without playoffs, soon to be 10. Standing pat isn’t getting the Wings anywhere but home for the playoff holidays – again.
Wonder what kind of offers Drury turned down for Trochek. Have to figure Detroit was a good bet to be in on him. Dolan must be kicking himself for trusting Drury. Team looking pretty hopeless. Shame what he’s done.
Trocheck will be even more valuable this summer as teams will have more cap space to bid for him.
Petey won’t get a young #1 C back. He could get one that might be about 3 years down the road. They will have to take a better player at a different position, a prospect and a high pick. They will only get a high pick in that package if Van retains at least $2M.
$2M retention should not be hard to handle on a rebuilding club with the rising cap.
With Pettersson, what if he turns out to be nothing more than what he has been the last 2 seasons, a 20g/60pt guy making $11.6m on a long term deal? Even with $2m retained, I wouldn’t touch him. And what would that say to the team when your good players (DeBrincat?) come up for a new contract? He could screw up the team’s entire salary structure. No thanks.
Good point, might as well wait on Matthews decision. 👍😁
Anyone that thinks Yzerman’s job is in jeopardy underestimates the loyalty ownership has to him. He inherited a team with no prospects. He has had terrible luck in the draft. Meeting the asking price for Thomas MIGHT have got them into the playoffs this year, but the goal is to have another long playoff streak and to actually win playoff rounds, not squeek in and lose in round 1. Detroit is dealing with injuries and will have Larkin back this week.
100% agreed. While Thomas and Trochek would have been good, the team is not in position to sell off all their talent, or nearly all. I also don’t believe Yzerman will deal Cossa or Augustine, or should he.
Yzerman only has a job with the Wings because of what he did as a player. No GM would still be in that position with his track record. & missed playoffs, bad to poor management of player signings and bad drafting, as on two current players taken after the 1st round are on the team, and one of the worst 5 on 5 scoring teams in the league.
Have to say Yzerman did a darn good job in Tampa before heading back to Detroit. So not like he doesn’t have the brains for it.
Agree with Ed, Detroit has had the worst lottery luck in the NHL over his tenure, even if they just picked where they finished, they could be a different team today.
They’re not ready for the go for it moves IMO. And stick tap to Yzerman for not doing it, and taking the heat for it. Maybe even costing him his job.
Johnny makes a good point above too, nobody else paid the price for those guys, so fair to assume it was too high.
Ray, Right on Y in Tampa, but he had Hedman and Stammer at the start, Whereas he had noone of that stature to start with at Detroit.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t had the equivalent a Julien Brisebois as an assistant GM in his years with Detroit.
He has had almost a decade to turn the Wings into a playoff team, still not there yet. Not sure what bad luck in the draft means – I am certain just about everyone else had had similar experiences drafting and developing 18 year olds.
Thomas would have made an instant impact in Detroit. Few teams need him more than the Wings.
Comes a time when the boss has to be held accountable for the product on the ice.
Would be interesting to see the Canucks trade Elias Pettersson to Anaheim for Mason McTavish.
Pettersson is producing at the same level as McTavish and has proven he can do more in the right atmosphere.
McTavish is clearly unhappy and isn’t playing up to his potential.
Imagine the Canucks with a happy Rossi and McTavish as their centres, they would be a different team with a new vision after Miller, Hughes and Pettersson.
At ANY portion of that $11.6 mil per cap hit, with 4 more seasons to run at which point he’d be turning 32, and in the “hope” that he could get back to anywhere near his one big season – which occurred 4 seasons back – I wouldn’t touch Elias Pettersson with that proverbial 10 foot pole.
From what I have seen (and heard/read about), he has all the attributes of Inge Hammarstrom, who Harold Ballard once observed “could skate into a corner with a dozen eggs in his pockets and not crack one …”
Harold Ballard, the worst owner in NHL history, the man who single handedly destroyed a franchise is the last opinion I’d consider.
Inge Hammarstrom was a pretty consistent 20 goal scorer and he’s in the Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame.
As for Pettersson, once the media latches on to a narrative it’s almost impossible to get out from under it. Internet riles up the fan base and the player is done for, run out of town.
Retaining $3m in a McTavish trade could work wonders.
Pal-Hal
The Lost Years at MLG
Heh. Just to be clear, in NO way was I suggesting that Harold Ballard was not a severe detriment to the league as a whole and the Leafs in particular.
But that was still a pretty funny analogy about a player who was notoriously “soft” in his overall game approach, and against who – in the tough corner areas – NO opposing D was hesitant to engage.
Just glad he is not around anymore.
With George on this one HF30, and I agree with your takes almost all the time. Sure seems like more than just a narrative on Pettersson.
The results suggest it.
Plus the pouting.
Looks like he has checked out, in interviews and on the ice.
A fresh start will surely do him some good, but for how long? What if he is a Debbie Downer when things start going sideways? Not the traits of a leader, and when you make $11.6M, you best be leading in a positive way.
I wouldn’t touch it until he proves he can pull himself out of this, whatever “this” is. Too risky, even if you don’t give up many assets, if any, to get him.
Not saying he never will, but you just don’t know WTF is up with him.
Hard to fathom anybody trading for Pettersson.
Doesn’t score, doesn’t check and skates like a 12 year old wearing skates for the first time. Spends half his time flopping on the ice like a seal and the other half sulking on the bench.
11.6 million for an uninterested Skinny Pete is going to require massive salary retention or super sugary sweetners.
How Rutherford and Alvin still have jobs is baffling.
I agree with you 100%
How can a team hire or have confidence in Rutherford and Alvin is beyond me
I’ve been saying this for years you don’t build a team around Hughes and Pettersson. Hughes probably the worst captain the Canucks ever had
Pettersson has been playing all season with Evander Kane (old, slow) on one wing and a collection of bottom 6 wingers on the other. Jake DeBrusk had a few games but he can’t hit the net – so many scoring plays have died on his stick. An upgrade on his wingers may be all that’s needed.
Maybe Gored 1970. But what GM is going to give up assets, AND take on a portion of that hefty cap hit, on the basis of such a “maybe?”
While Rutherford has not openly indicated he is necessarily and actively “shopping” Pettersson, he has confirmed the team is listening to offers and will only move him for a “great offer.”
And although even Rutherford likely realizes that the return will be somewhat smaller than it would have been a year ago, given Pettersson’s obvious decline in speed and production, he apparently won’t settle for less than a top-6 C and “high” draft picks along with a significant portion of that $11.6 mil per cap hit to be taken on by the receiving team in order top free up large cap space.
I just don’t see any GM risking his own future by taking that chance, other than perhaps at a significantly lower return.
That should be the last word, George. Anyone trading for Pettersson is taking a flyer. A very expensive flyer.
As for the internet stirring up the fan base, it cuts both ways. Name a player run out of town when he is playing well.
https://www.nhl.com/nhl-edge/comparisons/skaters/Elias-Pettersson-8480012/20252026/2/Mason-McTavish-8482745/20252026/2
Here’s a comparison of the season these two guys are having and if you set the internet buzz nonsense aside you’ll see that the trade I put out does make sense.
I know Pettersson’s contract is an issue but I did call for $3m retained to make it palatable.
Hf30 I would rather bring Hage in and play him right away.
Yzerman isn’t going anywhere, and he did right by standing-pat. If the Wings miss the playoffs, it will be because the injury bug hit at the wrong time – not because Stevie didn’t shoot his calculated wad over BUM players like Pettersson or overpriced Trocheck types. This year’s market was trash, he did good by ignoring the media and knowing what we have coming down the prospect pipeline in the future. Soon, Augustine and Cossa will be a tandem, and this will seem like a blip on the radar, albeit a 10 year blip.
Bet the NHL would let Edmonton win another lottery if they could get away with it. Oh weird, DETOROIT DRAFTED 9 SPOTS LOWER THAN THEY SHOULD HAVE AGAIN, OH WEIRD…
Sr,
I’m in no rush to see Hage in the NHL, college boys need more time.
Not suggesting a Pettersson trade to Montreal, there’s nobody big enough underperforming to make it reasonable.
Boston on the other hand may like to return Lindholm to Vancouver
LJ
Seems like you just don’t like trades at all.
On the one hand anybody taking Pettersson is taking a flyer, an expensive flyer.
On the other hand McTavish isn’t enough value for Pettersson.
OK, so which team is the winner and loser in the proposal?
Do you see a more realistic possibility for either?
FYI Oliver Kapanen ‘s skating isn’t better than Mason McTavish’s, one does more edge work and the other has more power work
I don’t happen to give much credence to Hockey Writers for the most part but that’s just a personal opinion
It’s not that I don’t like trades at all, HF30. I have, if only occasionally, agreed with some of your suggestions.
I also agree with the “conventional wisdom” that the Habs need a gritty winger a la Anderson, and a bigger winger with scoring touch for Demidov. The current Habs line up isn’t going to win a Cup.
But as I have stated numerous times, IMO the Habs are better off letting the young players develop and coming to final determinations on players such as Dach and Newhook as top 6 options.
You, on the other hand, find stimulation in making lots of suggestions. Lots. While I recognize the value of suggestions for this site it is unlikely that we are often going to agree as we come from different perspectives. Kapanen, is a prime example. I want to see if he can build on this season. You want to bump him down the line up.
Let me observe, in the spirit of conviviality, that while not one of your trade suggestions has come to pass, it doesn’t mean the Habs haven’t actually tried to make some of them. It is also true that some of the players you wanted (Kampf) who flopped elsewhere might have done better with the Habs.
But it also possible that suggestions like the Habs acquiring Murphy when they could have afforded the 2nd rounder to acquire him, mean that Hughes and Gorton see things more my way than yours.
One more thing I have repeatedly said: What do I know?
I wouldn’t have drafted Caulfield, or Hutson. What I hope I add to this site is a legitimate point of view, in support of or as a rebuttal to yours (and others) suggestions. Isn’t that as valuable as making the original suggestion?
On your comment about McTavish vs Kapanen, I have provided the summary of McTavish’s skating, here is Kapanen’s:
Oliver Kapanen is a high-tempo skater, frequently reaching speeds over 20 mph (maxing around 22.43 mph), putting him above the NHL average in speed bursts and skating distance. His skating is characterized as “shifty” and elusive in tight spaces, allowing him to create separation for shots and dominate in transition, particularly in his 2025-26 rookie season.
NHL.com
NHL.com
+2
Max Speed: Recorded a max skating speed of 22.43 MPH on Jan 15, 2026, exceeding the 22.16 MPH league average for forwards/defensemen.
High-Speed Bursts: He has accumulated over 112 speed bursts exceeding 20 MPH.
Style: Known for excellent mobility, using varying speeds and deceptive routes in the SHL and NHL, with an ability to maneuver effectively in all three zones.
Skill Application: His acceleration creates separation, allowing him to be a threat during penalty kills.
NHL.com
NHL.com
+3
His speed allows him to be an effective all-around forward, fitting into a top-nine role and contributing on both special teams
NHL Edge is clearly saying Kapanen is the better skater, and I can’t help it if you don’t care for NHL Edge.
Hf30 Yep send Lindholm back to Vancouver and your boys Newhook and Dach to their former teams!
Hf30,How much time did Caulfield need?
From the Hockey News: on McTavish:
“His skating, in terms of foot speed, four-way mobility, and balance, isn’t optimal for top-six centers in the NHL. With his substandard skating, he will be forced to adapt and adjust his game to playing down the middle against the best players in the world.”
Full article:
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/anaheim-ducks/latest-news/mason-mctavish-healthy-scratch-for-second-straight-game
And your URL points to slow skating as well. My point: the Canucks need to get as close to full value as they can for Petterssen as they can. They are unlikely to achieve that difficult goal with a player who is slow and defensively challenged.
And there is some internet chatter (A Winning Habit) about the Habs acquiring McTavish. Last year we agreed he would be what the Habs needed at 2C. Well, that ship has sailed. The Habs value speed, and that ain’t McTavish.
When you look at Pettersson and his contract there is one trade that I can clearly see happening this summer. That trade is:
Carolina : Pettersson (no retention)
Vancouver: Kotkaniemi, Nikishin, a prospect like Ryabkin and a lottery protected pick.
Carolina has $14M in space next year and this trade would be a 7M/yr add over Kotkaniemi’s 4.82M. Carolina would love to move on from that deal, and he’s also young emough that Vancouver accepts him as a reclamation project. Van is not going to trade away Pettersson without getting a good return even if he has gone two seasons underachieving.
Canes keep Nikishin no matter what.
Give Van at the draft, Kotkaniemi, 2026 1st, Felix Unger Sorum
That is plenty for an over paid Petey.
He has had almost a decade to turn the Wings into a playoff team, still not there yet. Not sure what bad luck in the draft means – I am certain just about everyone else had had similar experiences drafting and developing 18 year olds.
Thomas would have made an instant impact in Detroit. Few teams need him more than the Wings.
Comes a time when the boss has to be held accountable for the product on the ice.
I don’t know why you keep saying he’s had almost a decade? Yes, the Wings franchise has not made the playoffs in 9 seasons, but Yzerman hasn’t been there for the entirety of it. When he took over from Holland it was a complete disaster, with no prospects and bad contracts. Yzerman hasn’t made all the right moves, in hindsight, but he’s turned the ship around. He’s patient, has an objective and is sticking to what he believes is the right course.
Kotkaniemi will be getting bought out by the Canes at 1/3 his salary.right after the finals and before he turns 26 in july
4 Yrs left so it becomes 8yrs at under 900k per.
Can then be ufa and get a fresh start.probably a prove yourself contract
Sounds plausible. He then signs a 2 x $2.5M-3M deal somewhere.
You are correct on the availability of the buyout at 1/3 value but Carolina do not want to admit the offer sheet to steal him away from Mtl was a failure. He would have been bought out last year if they were going to go down that route. If they include him in a blockbuster trade then they save face and not have a cap penalty for him for a decade.