Elias Pettersson is regarded as one of the brightest and highly skilled young Swedish National Hockey League (NHL) players.
He was drafted fifth overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
After his junior hockey stint, his skills seamlessly transitioned to North America. In his rookie season with Vancouver, Pettersson scored 66 points in 71 games. This total is a record for the team among rookies, six more than Pavel Bure’s in the 1991-92 season and Ivan Hlinka’s in the 1981-82 season.
His impressive play on the West Coast earned him an eight-year, $92.8 million contract last March.
Pettersson felt the highs during his first six years as a Canuck. However, those highs have been met with halting lows, particularly since last May.
In the past 10 months, Pettersson has found himself struggling to produce any form of offense.
To document Pettersson’s struggles, we have to go back to the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Vancouver played Nashville in the first round. The team defeated the Preds in six games. During those six games, Pettersson had two assists.
In the second round, the Canucks took on their Western Canadian rivals, the Edmonton Oilers. Vancouver and Edmonton had a back-and-forth series, with the Oilers winning in seven games. Pettersson tallied a goal and three assists through seven games, two more than in the opening round.
At the time, he blamed a nagging knee injury for his struggles, one which bothered him for most of the final months of the season.
Fast forward to this season and Pettersson has continued to underperform.
Most of this season has been underlined by the rumours of a rift between him and former teammate J.T. Miller, one that has affected his on-ice performance.
Pettersson has 35 points in 51 games. Those statistics are way below the 102- and 89-point seasons the Sundsvall native had the past two years.
As a result, his confidence and offensive production have dwindled to an all-time low.
“It’s more annoying dealing with the media,” Pettersson told reporters following a 2-1 loss to Utah on Feb. 23.
In a city that takes sports very, very seriously, you are bound to have those in the media criticize the team when they fail to meet expectations.
Nevertheless, I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Pettersson is struggling.
The faulty play is affecting his personal growth and development, as the fundamental parts of his game have withered and decayed this season.
For instance, he missed a wide-open shot to tie the game against Utah, putting it over the net and nowhere near goaltender Karel Vejmelka.
Usually, scoring with that much open space is an easy layup for Pettersson.
Pettersson is an assistant captain for the Canucks and is relied upon to produce offence when someone like Quinn Hughes is out of the line-up.
Hughes is Vancouver’s captain and leading scorer this season.
Before the 4 Nations break, Vancouver was riding high. The team won three of four games with Hughes injured, defeating Colorado and Toronto. Yet, much of the offense came from players not with the last name Pettersson and who didn’t wear number 40.
Since the best-on-best event finished, the Canucks lost both games, notching an overtime against the Los Angeles Kings in their third game back.
Pettersson’s struggles go without saying. Vancouver will go as far as 40 and 43 will take them. Therefore, if Quinn is nursing an injury and Pettersson is plagued by his struggles, the Canucks may have some trouble coming out of the blocks or even making it to the playoffs.
“I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence in his shot, but as soon as he has room, he’s got to take it and … just got to blast it. I’d rather him just rip the puck right now. He’s not moving his feet. I don’t know if it’s a mental block right now, all year, but he’s got to move his feet,” said Rick Tocchet, head coach of the Canucks.
“We’ve talked about [Pettersson] has to move his feet and can’t double clutch.”
With everything said about his struggles, one wonders what is next for Petterson.
Is he in a situation where he needs to face the music as a leader and tap into the same success that brought him to the dance in the first place?
Vancouver has had a long line of impactful Swedish leaders come through the doors of the Rogers Arena, including Marcus Naslund, Alex Edler, Thomas Gradin and Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
Pettersson has the potential to be on the level of some of those former players, but he must rediscover his confidence and skill as a leader before that happens.
Or is a change of scenery what Pettersson needs to get him going?
With the trade deadline looming, rumors and reports have been swirling about whether he has played his way out of Vancouver. Many of these are false, but could become reality if Pettersson continues to struggle.
No matter how Pettersson’s season plays out, all Vancouver fans can do is hope his play improves as the playoff push kicks into high gear.
Up to this point, the forward has shown he will need more than a Nanaimo bar and a burger from White Spot to get himself out of his offensive slump.
