The Elias Pettersson trade saga just took a major turn

Elias Pettersson isn't going anywhere, and the Vancouver Canucks never got close to trading him, according to a report out this week.

Insider Rick Dhaliwal said on the Canucks Conversation podcast that Vancouver never called Pettersson's agent to ask about waiving his no movement clause.

No trade partner. No offer sheet. Just a name that keeps getting attached to rumors that, per Dhaliwal, never had legs.

Rick Dhaliwal: Re Canucks: As far as I know, when I checked in...an Elias Pettersson trade never got close in the last few months; the Canucks never went to his agent and said hey, we got a team, will you waive.

There's also this. Multiple reports suggest Pettersson isn't in any rush to leave Vancouver, no movement clause and all.

That clause matters. It means Pettersson controls his own fate, and right now he's choosing to stay.

He's making $11,600,000 a year, the eighth highest cap hit in the entire NHL. That number alone keeps the speculation alive every summer.

Committing that much money to a player who looked ordinary down the stretch is like leasing a Ferrari and leaving it parked in the driveway.

The stretch run says something different

On the ice, his season broke down late. 51 points in 74 games, but a minus-30 rating that sits among the worst on the roster.

Over his last 10 games, Pettersson has zero goals, six assists and a minus-7 rating. His last five look almost identical, zero goals, three assists, minus-3.

Is that an $11.6 million pace? Not even close.

Compare that to a Canucks team that finished 25-49-8, dead last in the NHL standings with a goal differential of minus-100.

Manny Malhotra took over as head coach this year, and he inherited a roster already built around Pettersson's contract.

Here's the real tension. If Vancouver truly never shopped its highest paid forward, that's either loyalty or paralysis. Take your pick.

Either way, the no movement clause means this stays exactly as complicated as it's been for two years. Nothing changes until Pettersson decides it does.