Should Bruins Make Call On Canucks Star On Trade Block?

The Boston Bruins are reeling.

The Black and Gold have lost six straight games and are struggling to find offense and wins, and the answer may lie outside the organization.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney could look to a familiar trade partner and reach out to the Vancouver Canucks to discuss a trade to bring 26-year-old center Elias Pettersson to Boston.

In 34 games this season, Pettersson has 10 goals, including five on the power play and 18 assists while averaging over 19:00 of ice time.

His addition to a struggling Bruins power play (12.2% conversion rate) makes perfect sense to retired goaltender and current NESN analyst Andrew Raycroft.

“He’s extremely skilled,” Raycroft told NESN.com “He’s great on the power play. A great shot, a great one-timer over on the other side from where David (Pastrnak) would be. He’s a long body and does play a pretty good 200-foot game. He’s a scorer. He’s a guy who gets points and scores.”

Pettersson won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie in 2019 when he recorded 66 points in 71 games for the Canucks. He has nearly a point per game production, with 440 career points in 441 games.

There’s a lot of upside to the Bruins bringing in Pettersson, with the exception of his contract.

Petterson would definitely be an investment. The Sweden native is in the first year of the eight-year, $92.6 million contract extension he signed with the Canucks on March 2 and does not have any trade protection until July 1 but will have a full no-movement clause starting in 2025-26.

“He’s got eleven and a half million dollars for the next eight years so it’s hard to fit him into a salary cap situation,” Raycroft said. “It would take a lot to give up to move him into the lineup, but beyond that player, player-wise, character-wise, he’s very good and has been an all-star in this league for a while now.”

Boston is right at the cap, according to Spotrac. There would have to be money going out, but Sweeney’s comments after the historic franchise fired Jim Montgomery in mid-November indicated he’d be willing to rearrange the NHL roster if he saw an opportunity to improve.

It’s at least worth an inquiry, right?