October 29th, 2024
JC Clemas
Elias Pettersson has been under massive amounts of criticism from the Canucks fan base and media. To this point in the season, Pettersson has only managed 1 goal and 3 assists in 8 games. Ideally, I would say you probably want more from the player whose $ 11.6 million contract has just kicked in. But I would also say it is way too early for people to be hating on Pettersson so intensely. To me, it seems like some people have forgotten the player we have. It also seems like they’re ignoring what he’s been dealing with, both on the ice and off. I want this article to serve as a reminder for both of those and for that, I want to take everyone through his career so far. I think many people can benefit from a refresher on Elias Pettersson’s potential.
Earlier Career
To start off, I want to go back to the very beginning (or 2017). In the draft, the Canucks took an undersized forward from Sweden. Many people thought this was a reach. His player comparison was Paul Stastny, and Sportsnet projected him to be a 2nd line centre. With all due respect to Paul Stastny, he was pretty consistently scoring around 50 points a year after his first 4 seasons. It looked like another certified Jim Benning moment. People were furious that the Canucks could pass on a player like Cody Glass for this 165-pound Swede. Pettersson quickly grew into something much better than a 2nd line centre, though. After breaking the SHL’s rookie scoring record with 24 goals the season after the draft (which was then subsequently broken by occasional linemate Linus Karlsson), Pettersson was brought over to the NHL for the 2018-19 season. He impressed that year, scoring 66 points in 71 games and winning a Calder Trophy to prove it. Pettersson instantly won over Canucks fans, and a new franchise Swede was taking the reins from the recently retired Sedin twins.
Pettersson continued his success the following season, rejecting the concept of a sophomore slump and scoring another 66 points (in 68 games this time). He then impressed in the bubble playoffs, at a time when absolutely nothing was expected of the young and inexperienced Vancouver Canucks. He finished at just over a point per game and was a huge reason why the Canucks were able to take down the defending champion St. Louis Blues (and Calder-race rival Jordan Binnington) in round 1. It’s really the next season where concerns about Pettersson began. He got off to a horrid start, with 0 goals and 1 assist through the first 6 games of the season. Though he started to pick it up, it didn’t last too long. He faced an injury to his wrist in a March game against Winnipeg and finished his season after just 26 games. His dedication and consistency were questioned, a theme we see a lot these days.
Going into the 2021-22 season now, a lot of excitement surrounded Pettersson’s healthy return to the lineup. Unfortunately, it was time for another atrocious start. Pettersson only managed 10 points in 22 games, which can be slightly excused by the fact he had been recovering from an injury and hadn’t played in about 7 months. Yet again, Pettersson eventually picked it up and still finished the season at 68 points in 80 games (effectively going point-per-game after that bad start).
The 2022-23 season is not one that I, or many Canucks fans, enjoy recounting. However, it would be a disservice to Pettersson to ignore it. The Canucks started 0-5-2, but to no fault of Pettersson’s. In his first 11 games, he scored 15 points, highlighted by a 5-point performance against Anaheim. He stayed consistent throughout the season and achieved his first 100-point season. This is the season to look at when considering what Pettersson’s true potential is. This once undersized centre defied the odds people had set out for him and put up triple-digit points in an NHL season. Especially impressive was the fact he did it on a team that never even sniffed playoffs. Many fans are quick to forget just how elite Pettersson was that year, and given that it was just two years ago, I know he still has it in him.
2023-24
Last season is really where the questions about Pettersson started to become more pronounced. He was off to a wild start, much like his surrounding Canucks’ stars. Beginning in February, however, his production suddenly dropped off the edge of a cliff. Speculation was that Pettersson could not focus as well on his game, given his non-existent contract extension and all the outside noise concerning it. When he received his massive extension (8 years, $11.6m), he scored in the game immediately following. Unfortunately, that was his final 5-on-5 goal of the season, including the 13 playoff games he played in. In fact, Pettersson only managed 1 goal during the playoff stretch. Later, we discovered that he had been nursing a knee injury since January, which effectively explained where his production went (it also didn’t help that one of his linemates couldn’t score to save his life— not naming names).
The Vancouver market is not an easy one to play in. Some markets (specifically in the USA) are ones you can go to, play terribly, and no one really cares. Vancouver is quite the opposite. If you have one bad game, the fanbase and media question your commitment to the team and want you traded immediately. Okay, maybe that’s an over-exaggeration, but really not by much. Before signing the extension, there were mock trades for Pettersson all over the internet, which I cannot imagine felt good for him to see. Pettersson really learned just how brutal the market can be. Nobody even considered that he may have been dealing with an issue before writing him off. We’re seeing that once again this year.
Early Season Pettersson
Look, it’s no secret: Elias Pettersson has not been good this season. I do not want it to seem like I believe he should be completely free from any criticism, because the fact of the matter is that he needs to be better. 4 points in 8 games is just not going to cut it. However, we cannot just pretend like it is all his fault. First, we have to remember he’s coming off an injury that he played through for months. It’s still gonna take time to get up to speed, like it did a couple years ago. His supporting cast also has not been too impressive. So many times he has set someone up for a goal that should have gone in, and it just doesn’t. Jake DeBrusk, who was brought in to give Pettersson a talented winger to play with, has instantly become snake-bitten and moved off of Pettersson’s line. Conor Garland and Nils Höglander are skillful players who have demonstrated great chemistry with Pettersson, but they aren’t necessarily the players who you would want to pair with a potential franchise forward long-term. Both have 50 point potential, which is amazing, but Pettersson has 100 point potential. Is it time to bring Boeser back to Pettersson? I wouldn’t mind it. Looking beyond even strength, the power play has not been particularly impressive. They’re firing at a decent 20%, but for a group that has 4 all-stars from last season, you would hope they’d rank higher than 16th in the NHL.
Still 74 Games Left
We are roughly 10% of the way through the season now. We haven’t even made it out of the first month. In the past, as I mentioned, Pettersson has been known to start slow. While it would be wonderful if he could get going immediately into the season, that just simply isn’t how it works sometimes. He’s proven in the past that he can bounce back, and I find it hard to believe that he’s going to stand at half a point per game all season. The power play figuring themselves out will help this, and eventually, someone is bound to finish some of Pettersson’s silver platter-like passes. The most important thing right now is that Pettersson needs to build his confidence. I don’t think it’s my business to take a deep dive into someone else’s mental health, but it’s clear that Pettersson benefits greatly from having confidence in his own game. When he believes in himself, the points just come naturally.
Pettersson is still our franchise-level forward. He is our alternate captain. He is a 100 point player. He is going to go down as one of the greatest players to ever wear the orca on his chest. Elias Pettersson is one of the most important players on this team, and he will pick it back up again. Again, I believe he deserves some criticism for his game so far. It’s been quite overkill so far, though. For now, I would really love to see more people show confidence in Pettersson. I remain incredibly confident in his game. I hope he can start to feel that confidence as well.