February 14th, 2025
JC Clemas
Any doubts about the 4 Nations Face-Off being a worthwhile replacement for the All-Star Game have been laid to rest.
Canada won game 1 of the tournament on Wednesday night in a 4-3 overtime thriller over Sweden. The USA dominated Finland 6-1 last night, but it was a close game for two periods. If those games are the standard for how the rest of the week will go, then we’re in for an incredible 5 more.
There was a point in time when the 4 Nations Face-Off was looking to be an eventful time for Canucks fans. With 4 players named to the tournament in Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, and Kevin Lankinen, the Canucks had a player representing every country besides their home nation.
The Canucks’ representation in this tournament was halved in quick succession leading up to the tournament, due to the trade that sent Miller to the Rangers and the decision by Hughes to abstain from participating in the tournament. Hughes sitting out was likely the right choice, as he had missed the Canucks’ previous 4 games with an injury and the team desperately needs him to be healthy down the stretch. Plus, given how intense and physical the Canada/Sweden game was (even leading to an injury for Shea Theodore) it’s clear Hughes would be at much more risk than if this were just a simple no-effort All-Star Game.
With the losses of Miller and Hughes, most Canucks fans’ eyes are on Elias Pettersson. Though Lankinen is getting the start for Finland tomorrow afternoon, he certainly isn’t being held to the same expectations as Pettersson. Pettersson has been a point of discussion in the Vancouver market all season, with underwhelming play in the first year of his ginormous 8-year contract that carries an AAV of $11.6 million. There were times when it seemed like the Canucks’ front office was more inclined to send him away than J.T. Miller, but Pettersson has since survived the first wave of Canucks trading season. Expectations have been raised even more on the Swede since the departure of Miller, and so far, he still has not been living up to them.
In the 5 games that EP40 has played for the Miller-less Canucks, he’s racked up 0 goals and just 2 assists. Credit where credit’s due, the assist against Toronto was really cool. He also has been playing stellar defensively, through back-checking and blocking any shots he can. However, you just need a lot more from him, especially at this stage in the season. He’s our undisputed top-line centre now, but he’s continuing to play like a middle-6 defense-first centre. Goal-scoring has been an issue for the Canucks all season. Quinn Hughes has carried the offense on his back all year. Now, at a time when our defense is looking better than it has since maybe even 2011, it’s time for the offense to step up. The offense runs through Elias Pettersson, and without him revving up the engine, it isn’t as likely to succeed.
His mind is on other things than the Canucks now. He just played in the first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off yesterday, and he looks like the same player we’ve seen recently. Pettersson finished with a shot, a hit, a takeaway, and nothing else. Adding on to that is the fact he finished at 16% in the faceoff dot, which is expected, but just kinda funny. Petey really did not look any more confident in the yellow and blue than we’ve seen him in the blue and green, and he needs to find it soon.
This tournament has the potential to be a huge turning point in Pettersson’s season. He’s on the 1st line for Sweden, centring Adrian Kempe and Filip Forsberg, two former 40-goal scorers and near-point-per-game players. Canada is obviously a tough team to face, but if he can’t settle in with those guys and start producing, who will he ever be able to settle in with? He was not a very noticeable player in the game yesterday and didn’t manage a point in his 16:32 of ice time. That being said, he did more than Mika Zibanejad did with 20:01 of ice time. I bring this up solely to question why in the world Mika Zibanejad got to play 20 minutes of the game.
Pettersson got a couple of shifts in overtime. On the first shift, he was trapped as the defensive player in a one-on-one against Nathan MacKinnon and looked like a deer caught in headlights. He actually did a pretty good job of not allowing MacKinnon to dangle close to the goalie and forced a shot that Gustavsson was able to swallow up. Given that there aren’t even many defensemen who want to be stuck defending MacKinnon alone, I think Pettersson did a fine job there. On the second shift, he flubbed a one-timer from close to the blue line at a point when 2017 Calder rival Jordan Binnington was giving him more than enough net. On the bright side, at least he actually tried to shoot the puck. Also on the bright side, he wasn’t on the ice when Mitch Marner eventually ended it, so he finished the game with an even +/-. That’s gotta count for something! But there was a point in time when Pettersson would hit twine with that shot consistently, and seeing it weakly slide down to the boards was quite a depressing scene.
Pettersson has been given a golden opportunity to get his head back into hockey this week, and he didn’t use it against Canada. Now, granted, Canada is an extremely difficult team (it’s our sport after all). He may have needed that game to settle in, but it’s crucial that he gets going against Finland on Saturday. The game will be starting at 7 pm back in Sweden, and will undoubtedly be a huge game for the two nations involved. They really don’t like each other very much. Finland is icing a defense that isn’t even NHL-calibre, and with two stars on his wings, it’s the perfect time for Petey to build his confidence back up. The unfortunate part is that he’ll have to get past Kevin Lankinen, making me really conflicted about who I’m cheering for to succeed in that game. Following that, the Swedes meet up with the USA on Monday, where Pettersson gets reunited with his good friend J.T. Miller. This game is going to be very fun for Canucks fans to watch, and who knows, maybe Pettersson can score one and raise his spirits a little. Or maybe he can drop the gloves with Miller and let some of his demons out of the cage. I’d support either of those options.
The championship game feels destined to be Canada/USA, but Sweden showed on Wednesday that they’re not to be taken lightly in this tournament. They hung with Canada all the way to overtime and had a couple of chances in the extra frame to end it. If only it weren’t Mika Zibanejad who had the open net that one time. If Sweden can take care of Finland and then pull off the upset against the USA, maybe that will be enough for Pettersson to find some passion for the rest of the season. He definitely needs to use this tournament to his advantage and find something to build off of, whatever it may be. While a big part of this tournament is for fun, it was clear yesterday that it is competitive. These players want to win.
Pettersson’s main problem in recent memory has been his confidence. When he’s down on himself, nothing ever gets better for him on the ice. If he can start producing for his national team, that can be enough to help him close out the NHL season on a high. If the Canucks are going to make the playoffs during this rollercoaster season, it relies heavily on Pettersson re-finding his game. He needs to be that same confident player that we watched score 102 points a couple of years ago. Pettersson reviving this season can start with the 4 Nations if he plays it right. He needs to get going while the lights are the brightest, and if he can do that, the Canucks are in business. Or maybe Lankinen will shut him down. That would be funny.