Player Discussion Elias Pettersson - A Forward Who Scores

[poler]

Pretty much out of the gate last season folks (myself included) thought that even though he was putting up points he looked like he was somewhat clearly playing with an injury due to how laboured his skating looked. IIRC, at some point Tocchet also implied he was banged up, there was some media speculation, and he had some maintenance days in like November or December or something last year, too.

I thought, and still think TBH, that he looked like a player with some kind of abdominal or back injury. I don't know that I necessarily think that's actually the case, but I definitely think he looks like it.

Beyond that, I also think it's a bit bizarre how little speculation there seems to be around it, and how much the media seems to be kind of treating this with kid gloves relative to what you might expect.

At my work someone told me about soccer player Ronaldo and he signed a massive contract and was dealing with an injury at the time. There was so much pressure to perform from the team they kept him playing even though he wasn’t 100%. Of course he wasn’t the same player and couldn’t perform up try to his contract.

Till this day even though he is rich he’s fighting depression from his poor play before he retired. It kind of reminds me the situation with Petterson, I don’t have faith in our medical staff with bad reputation of past players example being Cody Hodgson.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Some goldfish memories around here. This song has been playing since the very start of last season.

Game 3, opening road trip. Myers hits EP with a point shot in the shin vs Philly. Game 4, Myers runs into EP on the PK vs Tampa. This was mid October, and the unwashed masses pointed to those moments as the reason for EP's soft, weak play all the way through Christmas. Some of his worst games came early in the season. It wasn't a drop off after January, it was a PEAK IN JANUARY.

The points were there for everyone early on, but EP looked exactly like he does now (plus all of 20-21, 21-22 and every PP in 22-23)

Blamed Myers, blamed Mikheyev, blamed the looming contract talks. There were literally posters blaming his change in brand of stick,..

Late October, home game vs Rags, EP was flopping all over the place, sabotaged 5 powerplays, the refs rolled their eyes when he faceplanted from the smallest of contact in OT to turn the puck over on the gwg against.

That mid-late November game vs the Avs? Fell on every scoring chance, got absolutely abused by Makar like 3 times in 5 seconds, just moped back to the bench.

This thread was echoed in every other game thread back then, receipts are all there. Just search 'bambi' and grab some popcorn.

Also painfully obvious, announcers are 100% trying to steer fan sentiment right now by praising every touch of the puck he makes. That's where we're at folks.

 

[VanJack]

Wow! Hockey's network insiders are really giving it to Elias Pettersson......the latest to take a run at hime was Craig Button on TSN, who said he isn't beginning to earn his inflated salary. And the pressure on him will only keep building until he shows something.

I really hope the guy can shut out all the background noise, and stay off social media until things start to turn around for him.

 

[theguardianII]

Wow! Hockey's network insiders are really giving it to Elias Pettersson......the latest to take a run at hime was Craig Button on TSN, who said he isn't beginning to earn his inflated salary. And the pressure on him will only keep building until he shows something.

I really hope the guy can shut out all the background noise, and stay off social media until things start to turn around for him.

You can hope but this is world wide, Sweden too.

It is a legit concern BUT it was management that pushed for the contract and they should take some heat also.
That the Canucks were counting on him to carry the team in the future is not EP's fault.

His style doesn't match with Tocchet's coaching simply as that, Tocchet's coaching record shows this.

If the team does trade him it won't be a matter of giving him a chance, EP has 6/7 years of playing history and he only excels when allowed to play his game and not HAVE to play down.

There are teams that might be interested now, teams that would over pay even for a player of his (past) calibre. Creating cap space would only enhance the trade return, if the Canucks take back salary/player.
Carolina is out now, Necas is playing really well.
The Preds might be getting desperate but don't really have enough to trade back, picks only.
Columbus is right there, they have lots of cap space, picks and prospects, but few Tocchet type guys. There is a Rutherford GM connection though.
Buffalo, another team with players/prospect/picks and cap space, after 7 years of bottom feeding they need a #1 center

I am pretty sure IF Pettersson is traded it will be to an eastern team.

6 points in 11 games and a couple of those secondary PP assists is not improving.

This news cycle the local media is leaning heavily on Hughes achievement and ignoring EP altogether.

The pressure from social media will not get better even if he has a few multi point games because this crater he has fallen into here is so deep and been that way for so long.

The TDL is the last day for trades but US Thanksgiving day is becoming noted for playoff chances. Few teams ever come back from not being in the show by that date.

I wonder how many fans/posters would be angry if Petey was traded and then flourished. Who would they blame? Player? Management? Or Coach? Let's add in there, fans?
If fans, isn't it okay to criticize poor play in an eye test?

 

[nowhereman]

Some goldfish memories around here. This song has been playing since the very start of last season.

Game 3, opening road trip. Myers hits EP with a point shot in the shin vs Philly. Game 4, Myers runs into EP on the PK vs Tampa. This was mid October, and the unwashed masses pointed to those moments as the reason for EP's soft, weak play all the way through Christmas. Some of his worst games came early in the season. It wasn't a drop off after January, it was a PEAK IN JANUARY.

The points were there for everyone early on, but EP looked exactly like he does now (plus all of 20-21, 21-22 and every PP in 22-23)

Blamed Myers, blamed Mikheyev, blamed the looming contract talks. There were literally posters blaming his change in brand of stick,..

Late October, home game vs Rags, EP was flopping all over the place, sabotaged 5 powerplays, the refs rolled their eyes when he faceplanted from the smallest of contact in OT to turn the puck over on the gwg against.

That mid-late November game vs the Avs? Fell on every scoring chance, got absolutely abused by Makar like 3 times in 5 seconds, just moped back to the bench.

This thread was echoed in every other game thread back then, receipts are all there. Just search 'bambi' and grab some popcorn.

Also painfully obvious, announcers are 100% trying to steer fan sentiment right now by praising every touch of the puck he makes. That's where we're at folks.

Yeah, people do seem to forget that Pettersson was criticized almost all of last year for his underwhelming play but he managed to put up points largely because of Hughes and Miller playing absolutely unreal hockey. The injury talk provides a clean narrative for why his play completely fell off a cliff but we haven't seen a dominant Pettersson since 22-23.

This has been more than just the last 50-60 games and is growing beyond concerning. The thing is, the notion that this is "all in his head" is confusing, since he was just coming off an amazing season and was still generating offense at a very strong rate on the front half of 23-24. Why would his confidence plummet? This is truly the most perplexed I think I've ever been with an NHL player.

I just hope 22-23 Pettersson rides in to save the day by the end of the year and into the playoffs. If we can add a top 4 defenseman, this team can beat anyone.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Some goldfish memories around here. This song has been playing since the very start of last season.

Game 3, opening road trip. Myers hits EP with a point shot in the shin vs Philly. Game 4, Myers runs into EP on the PK vs Tampa. This was mid October, and the unwashed masses pointed to those moments as the reason for EP's soft, weak play all the way through Christmas. Some of his worst games came early in the season. It wasn't a drop off after January, it was a PEAK IN JANUARY.

The points were there for everyone early on, but EP looked exactly like he does now (plus all of 20-21, 21-22 and every PP in 22-23)

Blamed Myers, blamed Mikheyev, blamed the looming contract talks. There were literally posters blaming his change in brand of stick,..

Late October, home game vs Rags, EP was flopping all over the place, sabotaged 5 powerplays, the refs rolled their eyes when he faceplanted from the smallest of contact in OT to turn the puck over on the gwg against.

That mid-late November game vs the Avs? Fell on every scoring chance, got absolutely abused by Makar like 3 times in 5 seconds, just moped back to the bench.

This thread was echoed in every other game thread back then, receipts are all there. Just search 'bambi' and grab some popcorn.

Also painfully obvious, announcers are 100% trying to steer fan sentiment right now by praising every touch of the puck he makes. That's where we're at folks.

But he was so good on that eastern road trip early in 2024 though! The dekes around the Rangers' D and Shersterkin doesn't look like somebody with knee problems or balance/skating issues. He was still fast enough to pull away on the breakaway in Pittsburgh in OT. Sure he fell over sometimes like you mentioned above, but he has always fall over relatively easily, so it wasn't something new.

I think Myers falling on him was the beginning of it, Petey got up so gingerly from that. You are correct though, even though he was piling up points like a top 10 player early last season, he didn't always look like one aside from a few short stretches.

 

[Ernie]

Yeah, people do seem to forget that Pettersson was criticized almost all of last year for his underwhelming play but he managed to put up points largely because of Hughes and Miller playing absolutely unreal hockey. The injury talk provides a clean narrative for why his play completely fell off a cliff but we haven't seen a dominant Pettersson since 22-23.

This has been more than just the last 50-60 games and is growing beyond concerning. The thing is, the notion that this is "all in his head" is confusing, since he was just coming off an amazing season and was still generating offense at a very strong rate on the front half of 23-24. Why would his confidence plummet? This is truly the most perplexed I think I've ever been with an NHL player.

I just hope 22-23 Pettersson rides in to save the day by the end of the year and into the playoffs. If we can add a top 4 defenseman, this team can beat anyone.

So let me get this straight:
He was injured 2020-21 but if you extrapolate his numbers, he sucked.
He sucked all of 2021-2022 (when he scored 32 goals, mind you)
He was good in 2022-2023.
He sucked all of 2023-2024.
He sucks now.

Maybe 2022-2023 was the outlier? This player just sucks overall.

 

[Bobby9]

Imagine being so smug that you give an ultimatum to the team that drafted and helped develop you.

"Become a competitor."

And then the team does become competitive.

Then you double down on your arrogance and say "ill sign when I want" and create drama for the fans, team and management.

Then you go all in on wanting a 11.6M cap hit because you think youre worth that much.

Just to land face down and ass up in every game and are on pace for 40 points and have the entire fan base in an uproar because of how much you suck.

What a lesson in humility.