Vancouver Canucks get: D Marcus Pettersson, F Drew O’Connor
Pittsburgh Penguins get: F Danton Heinen, D Vincent Desharnais, F Melvin Fernström, 2025 first-round pick (via New York Rangers, top-13 protected)
James Mirtle: How many Petterssons do we have on this ship, anyway? I do love a good two-part trade, and Jim Rutherford has pulled off a dandy late Friday night after the Canucks’ tough loss in Dallas.
After it looked like Vancouver was set to take a step back by sort of punting with the J.T. Miller trade, it flipped the Rangers first-rounder and picked up exactly what the team needed: another top-four defender who can play significant minutes and take some of the pressure off Quinn Hughes.
The Canucks blue line had struggled all year after their odd offseason makeover didn’t work; this should finally stabilize their pairings and slot the rest of their back end in the right spots.
It was a hefty price, but given they also pushed out some underperforming salary next year by including Desharnais ($2 million) and Heinen ($2.25 million), it stands to reason they’ll take a healthy run at keeping Pettersson in the fold long term. (They now have $27 million free this summer, albeit with some key names to re-sign.)
O’Connor, meanwhile, has been mired in a season-long slump and brings at least some potential to offer physicality and depth scoring off the wing after he had 16 goals and 33 points last season.
It’s obviously a lot for the Canucks to pay for two rentals, but their need on D was so glaring that it threatened their season, even with all the focus on the Miller drama. With how soft the bottom of the West is, they’re still in a very good position to make the playoffs, and this gives them a fighting chance of matching up against some of the better teams in the conference.
That wasn’t realistic without an upgrade on the back end before the deadline.
Vancouver also opened up another $2.9 million in cap space with these two deals, which will allow it to do more retooling by March 7, if necessary.
As for the Penguins, they do well here to get what should be a decently high first-round pick and two roster players with term that they can look to flip, either now, in the offseason or at next year’s deadline.
With so few quality defenders available before the deadline, it made sense they should be able to fetch a late first for Pettersson, but I didn’t think it would be one with a chance to be in the first 16 picks in June.
And O’Connor’s value had sunk to the point he wasn’t the prize he might have been at the start of the season. I think this deal has the chance to be a win-win. But a lot of that on the Vancouver side hinges on if Pettersson stays a Canuck at a reasonable price.
I’m going to bet that happens.
Canucks: B
Penguins: B+
Shayna Goldman: It took, what, two hours for the Canucks to move the most valuable part of the return of the Miller trade?
The vision was there for the Canucks, because that first-rounder better serves them as a trade asset than an actual pick in the 2025 draft. And by moving out Miller’s contract, management opened up cap space to work with.
Think back to the Capitals in 2023. Washington added a Bruins’ first-rounder as part of the return for Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway in late February. Days later, management flipped that 2023 first (and Erik Gustafsson) for Rasmus Sandin. And that was a major step in the right direction for the Capitals’ retool on the fly.
But there’s a big difference between Sandin and Pettersson. The 22-year-old was under contract for another season at $1.4 million, and he became a restricted free agent when that deal expired the next summer. Pettersson, on the other hand, is a 28-year-old carrying a $4 million cap hit, just months away from unrestricted free agency.
Pettersson may be a fit for a Canucks team that needs help on the back end. He isn’t a play-driver, but he can keep up and complement high-end offensive defenders. He brings stability to the defensive zone. Pettersson retrieves a lot of pucks and helps his team push play out of its own end.
Is that worth a first-round pick, though? Sometimes the market price can rise for rental defensemen in the weeks leading up to the deadline. And that first-round payment can be worth it for a piece that really solidifies a contender. But the market price hasn’t risen to that level yet, and even with Pettersson, the Canucks don’t look like a contender. So this is an overpayment even if the team intends to extend him.
There are two small wins here for Vancouver. The first is moving out Desharnais’ contract. He brings a lot of size to a lineup but doesn’t thread the needle. And O’Connor is cheaper depth than Heinen. He can help transition the puck up the ice in the bottom six and kill penalties. But those wins just don’t outweigh the cost, especially not with the big picture in mind.
As for the Penguins, getting a first-rounder for Pettersson is a great bit of business. The team has stocked up on mid- and late-round picks for 2025 and 2026, but only had its own first in 2025 and 2026. So getting a first-rounder back for its best pending UFA trade chip is a win.
Heinen in return for O’Connor is fine, too — whether the Penguins flip him before the deadline, or just keep him to help fill voids left by any further movement.
Canucks: C
Penguins: B+
(Photo: Joe Sargent / NHLI via Getty Images)
