In fairness, they are just repeating Madden's assessment of him and the comparison to William Karlsson doesn't hurt his cause.
I'm not.
Pettersson has enough skills to make a top 6 player, he is smart with his positioning and timing, he creates a lot of advantages in transition, usually with his anticipation and speed. He has a good shot, good passing vision and he performs better when the speed is high compared to his opposition. That is, puckhandling, agile moves are good at top speed. This all sounds like William Karlsson, and on top of that he is alternate captain for both his U20 club and team Sweden U18. Now, Karlsson did have him beat in junior scoring but Pettersson edged him in national team scoring.
Therefore, it is entirely fair to expect a top6 potential in Pettersson, but understand that he is not a big guy, doesn't help in the corners or net front when it's time to defend a cycle, he is good at picking pucks off passes and anticipating the cycle, and that's when he positions to win battles, he will not win many battles without that advantage, he drives possession because he is on the puck all the time, and picks it off players often. He creates offense with his fast acceleration and anticipation of open lanes and players. The execution is usually good, nothing crazy, he is not the most skilled guy ever, but it's pretty good, and he does not try anything silly and turn the puck over nearly as much as some high scoring junior players usually do, so he plays a much more pro game already, hence the captaincies.
Regardless of this all, it's an obvious projection and comparison to make.
I'm not going to argue Dirk's dime a dozen argument as it's plainly obvious sweden's best (or highest drafted anyway) prospect of any given year has potential way beyond the average prospect. I made the point halfway through the year that both Sidorov's and Dionicio's odds to make the NHL at any capacity are about 50-50. Dionicio obviously has the added obstacle of Ducks' defensive depth to overcome.
