Pros and Cons of an Elias Pettersson Trade: Should the Flyers Make a Move?

Just a handful of days after Flyers’ general manager Daniel Briere said, “The reality is, there’s not a lot of high-end centermen in this league. And teams have them, they want to keep them, or the price is crazy,” superstar center (and winger) Mikko Rantanen was dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes.

With Rantanen off the board, all focus shifts to Vancouver. The Canucks have been fielding calls on both J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson for a little bit of time now. It has been reported that Miller wants out, but that shouldn’t stop Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin from fielding calls on Pettersson too.

At this point, most of us have heard Briere’s “no undo button” philosophy regarding a trade like this, so let’s discuss the pros and cons of making a move for Pettersson.

The Flyers have a glaring hole in their roster–a true top-line center. Pettersson would fill that gap immediately. Despite his down year, Elias Pettersson would be the best center on the Flyers roster by far.

Pettersson is young and locked up for the foreseeable future. The 26-year-old center signed an eight-year, $92.8 million contract with Vancouver and is in just the first year of the deal. If the Flyers were to make a move, resigning Pettersson would not be a worry.

Pettersson is two years removed from a 102-point season (2022-23) and tallied 89 points just last season. The only sub-60 point season of Pettersson’s career came during the 2020/21 COVID-19 season, where he only played 26 games. Pettersson still managed to produce 21 points that season.

He is seven points shy of being a career point-per-game player (442 points in 449 games), has 181 career goals, and has 261 career assists. He brings elite production and a strong skillset that the Flyers desperately need.

We saw Colorado’s return for Rantanen. It was quite the haul: Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 2nd-round pick, and a 2026 4th-round pick.

That kind of move would run the Flyers near dry. It has also been said that Pettersson’s expected trade value would be higher than the Rantenen return. I could not imagine the Flyers wanting to include Travis Konecny. I’m sure if you’re trading for a guy like Pettersson, you envision him joining your top line, not replacing someone on the top line.

Unless the Canucks are buying into this season, the Flyers would need to trade some of their future. If Vancouver were to buy into the season, I could see them having interest in Rasmus Ristolainen. However, if they are dealing Pettersson, I would take that as a sign that they are not looking to contend this season.

The trade offer would have to start with multiple high-round draft picks, one of the Flyers’ young defensemen, and Morgan Frost–but obviously, it would be more than just that.

To continue, Pettersson is expensive. His cap hit is $11.6 million. For a 100+ point scorer, that is a steal. However, in his first season since signing that long-term deal, Pettersson is on pace for his worst career season, scoring just 30 points in 42 games (on pace for 58.6 points). That is not an ideal sign for someone to have their worst career season AFTER signing a big-time contract.

Adding to the list here, part of the reason Vancouver would even look to trade their 26-year-old star is that he is allegedly in the midst of a feud with fell star Vancouver centerman J.T. Miller. All that has been said is that the two stars do not get along. The reason (or who is to blame) is still unknown.

As Briere said, “There’s not a lot of high-end centermen in this league,” and Elis Pettersson is one of them.

If I were the Flyers, I would act with caution, but I would pull the trigger. We have already seen what Pettersson is capable of. The Flyers may even be able to take advantage of the circumstances–the down season, internal drama, over paid deal (for his current level of play). They could possibly get Pettersson for a better trade value now than if they waited it out.

If the Flyers have the chance to go get Elias Pettersson, they need to go get Elias Pettersson. Plain and simple. It may cost getting rid of some assets that will be tough to let go of, but the Flyers have the draft capital this year alone to use in a trade, but also to recoup some of the young talent dealt in a potential Pettersson trade.

While it will be expensive and difficult to see some names included in the potential deal. Daniel Briere needs to do what he can to get Pettersson.