Elias Pettersson's name is out there again, and this time it's the Los Angeles Kings doing the asking.
Insider chatter broke Thursday afternoon, and it spread through hockey Twitter fast.
According to Farhan, relayed by @taj1944 on X, the Kings called the Canucks about Pettersson. Not a formal offer. Just calls.
The pieces Los Angeles floated apparently weren't good enough to get Vancouver moving on a deal.
That tells you something. Either the Kings are testing the water cheap, or Vancouver's asking price on a player having a rough year is still sky high.
Farhan reporting Kings called on Elias Pettersson. Not a formal offer but the pieces Kings were discussing weren't good enough.
Pettersson has 51 points in 74 games this season, but he's sitting at a minus-30. Over his last 10 games, he's got just six points.
At $11,600,000 against the cap, that contract is not an easy swallow for a team that isn't desperate to move him.
Why the Kings' interest makes hockey sense
Los Angeles sits at 90 points this season with a goal differential of minus-22. They need scoring depth down the middle, and Pettersson still profiles as a legitimate top-six center when healthy and engaged.
Vancouver, meanwhile, is buried at 25-49-8, good for 58 points and dead last in the league standings.
Would trading Pettersson now, at what looks like a career-low value, actually help the Canucks? That's the question nobody in Vancouver's front office wants asked out loud.
The Kings and Canucks have already crossed paths four times this season. Vancouver went 1-3 in those matchups, including a 0-4 shutout loss at home to Los Angeles in March.
Ken Holland has been the Kings' GM since May of 2025, and he's shown before he's not afraid to make a call and see what comes back.
This one didn't go anywhere. Yet.
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But calls like this rarely stay buried for long, especially once the trade deadline conversations start heating up again. Pettersson's name isn't going away, and neither is the price tag attached to it.
Should the Canucks trade Elias Pettersson even at a career-low value?
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