Failed Blockbuster Trade Involving Elias Pettersson Comes to the Surface on Saturday

The second half of January was a busy one for Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin as he made a couple of trades to bolster his roster, one of which saw the team part ways with J.T. Miller, who they dealt to the New York Rangers.

Prior to trading J.T. Miller, who was reportedly involved in a feud with teammate Elias Pettersson, the Vancouver Canucks had a deal in the works with Carolina which would've seen the Swedish forward join the Hurricanes.

On Friday, Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie & Dhali was a guest on Halford and Brough in the Morning on Sportsnet 650 radio where he said that if that trade between Vancouver and Carolina went through, it would've changed the Canucks' season.

In the failed trade between the two sides, the Vancouver Canucks would've landed pending restricted free agent forward Martin Necas, who is now a member of the Colorado Avalanche.

If the Vancouver Canucks were to trade Elias Pettersson to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas back in January, not only could it have changed their season, but it would've led to a pretty significant trickle down effect around the National Hockey League.

For starters, it likely would've meant the Vancouver Canucks would've held onto J.T. Miller and they wouldn't have landed Victor Mancini, Filip Chytil and a first-round pick.

That first-round pick was then flipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins the same night, which meant the Canucks may have not traded for defenceman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O'Connor and would've been left with Danton Heinen, Vincent Desharnais on their roster and prospect Melvin Fernstrom in the system.

Aside from the Canucks, a Pettersson-Necas deal would've seen the Colorado Avalanche shift their focus to another team in a Mikko Rantanen trade, who went to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas and then the Dallas Stars before the deadline in March.

Heading into the summer, an Elias Pettersson trade is still possible as General Manager Patrik Allvin says he'd be stupid not to keep his options open but it leaves many to wonder what Vancouver's season would've looked like with Martin Necas and J.T. Miller on their roster rather than the Sundsvall, Sweden native and if they could've made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.