"Just shut up" "Greatest trade in history": NHL fans left debating over Elliotte Friedman's massive Sabres-Canucks trade proposal

An explosive trade proposal from one of the top NHL insiders has hockey fans debating. During his recent "32 Thoughts" podcast, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman suggested that the Vancouver Canucks send star forward Elias Pettersson to the Buffalo Sabres for Dylan Cozens and Bowen Byram.

Fans on X were divided by the proposal.

"If they throw in an unprotected 1st I might just do that deal," wrote @Canuck_Faithful.

"I would stop being a Canuck fan if something like that were to ever materialize. Sometimes they just can't get out of their own way, although hypothetical, moves like that are why they've never won the Stanley Cup in their 54 year history," declared @desert_dogAZ.

"As a Canucks fan, I'd take that trade. That's a couple of young players with solid upside for a player who seems to be indifferent and detached from the team and needs a fresh start probably," replied @CrowningProfits.

"I wish Friedman would just shut up!" exclaimed @BonniPatterson.

"Would do that trade all day! Cozens is a good 🇨🇦 kid with lots of upside and signed for a very reasonable $7.1M per to 2029! Bowen Byram is also a good 🇨🇦 kid that is a controllable asset as an RFA at the end of the year and would be a massive upgrade to our 2nd pairing D!" exclaimed @johnny_mesic.

"That’d be the greatest trade in Canucks history. Offload whiny inconsistence Petersson for two very good young players," added @Zipperfaceclown

Canucks forward Elias Pettersson's 2024-25 season so far

Pettersson, whom the Canucks recently re-signed to a lengthy contract extension, scored only one goal in his first nine games of the season.

However, he scored six goals in his next 13 games. The slump appears to have returned, as he's only scored once in his last seven games.

Pettersson has scored eight goals with 18 assists in 2024-25 and is on pace to reach 23 goals with 51 assists.