Elias Pettersson.. Playoff Ghost

[WiLBoY]

He's a really poor playoff performer. Can tell he's rattled by the physical intensity, shades of Matthews/Marner. Canucks fans were mad at me for suggesting that Pettersson could struggle in his first real try at playoff hockey (2020 bubble doesn't count)

He's been bad 2 weeks prior to his contract. It's not just playoffs

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Put him on the top line here and there to get him going. Otherwise he's likely injured.

 

[Bobby9]

It's a major concern and something a handful of posters noticed around end of Feb. It's gotten significantly worse.

The injury excuse was laid to rest by the head coach. He has all but checked out for this season. His body language, lack of engagement and all out effort is abysmal. A 11.6M player should be an all out premier player who can make players around him better in all situations. He simply cannot elevate anybody he is with.

He should be trade bait this summer. Does that seem drastic? Yes, but this is a majorly depreciating asset as of right now.

Could extend Lindholm, Joshua and Z with the 11.6M cap savings. Management would be crazy to not have already started to think about it.

 

[LaVal]

His regular season point totals didn't reflect his play; he hasn't been good all season. He put up a ton of points earlier in the season when the Canucks went on their run of early season dominance, just from the nature of being on the ice at the same time as Hughes. He was a passenger for the majority of their games.

Carry that play over to the playoffs where you're only playing the best teams in the league, the checking is tighter and the pace is faster... and this is the result.

 

[alvinia]

I doubt it but can't completely discredit the possibility. Judging by his regular season play style and what he has been doing in the playoffs you can tell he is just not built for playoff hockey, especially in the west.


Garland's style translates to playoff hockey much better than EP40s.

What style is this?

 

[syz]

What style is this?

Trying.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

I think his wallet is weighing him down, he should leave it in the locker room

 

[GOilers88]

Eh, grain of salt. Not in their best interest to tell people if he is hurt.

Also no reason to lay into him if he is hurt though.

He seems so emotionless. I've been concerned about him for a while. I think it was last season where the Canucks came back in a game and scored in OT to complete the comeback. Camera panned to the bench and everyone erupted except for Petey. He just sat on the bench staring forward into space completely emotionless. I can't find the clip or picture now, but someone posted it at the time, and I figured something was up.

 

[Pucklington]

Dubiositis?

 

[TheNumber4]

Nothing is wrong with him. Well besides losing his smile, but that’s normal for his time in Vancouver. The truth is, Pettersson is closer to a Nugent-Hopkins level player than he is to McDavid. And he was always going to struggle in the playoffs because of a lack of experience and lack of size. Which is what I’ve been trying to tell Nucks fans for years.

 

[Regal]

Suggesting this is playoff related is dumb. When he’s on he battles hard, throws hits and goes hard to the net. A lot of people have misconceptions of him as a player. He falls down a ton but he’s always been a battler who goes to the dirty areas, and he was great in the bubble. This is a continuation of his play in the regular season. He only had 6 goals and 17 points in his final 27 games during the year and looked just as listless and useless during that period. Something else is going on whether it’s physical or mental.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Can't win series with your superstar doing zilch.

 

[NVious]

He is only treated like a Demi God in Vancouver, when Canucks fans start treating him right, he'll perform.

 

[Goose]

I've been confused since Day 1 that the guy is treated like a league superstar.

People on these boards absolutely crucify Tavares, and yet he has more points and goals than Petterson since the guy entered the league lol. Not saying he's the better player by any stretch, but Pettersson has had one very good season, and other than that does not deserve to be treated like he's a 1A player in the league.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

If Tocchett wants to get rid of passengers, have to re-do the lines for Game 5. I would go with.

Pettersson - Miller - Boeser
Joshua - Lindholm - Garland
Hoglander - Blueger - Podkolzin
Suter - Lafferty - Mikheyev

 

[Three On Zero]

He's a really poor playoff performer. Can tell he's rattled by the physical intensity, shades of Matthews/Marner. Canucks fans were mad at me for suggesting that Pettersson could struggle in his first real try at playoff hockey (2020 bubble doesn't count)

Uhhhh no he isn’t, that’s one terrible take.

22 points in 27 games isn’t a poor playoff performer

 

[alvinia]

Trying.

He wrote a whole paragraph about playoff style. I thought there would be some substance.

 

[Despote]

Uhhhh no he isn’t, that’s one terrible take.

22 points in 27 games isn’t a poor playoff performer

I dunno, sounds quite bad for a 11.5 million player. That's 3 more millions in salary than Leon frigging Draisaitl.

 

[Bankerguy]

I know that no one want's to break up the Lindholm line but if you want to get Petey going, i think it might be worth a try doing
1. Petey, Miller. Boeser
2. Joshua. Bluegar. Garland (Line was great in the regular season)
3. Hoglander Lindholm Podkolzin (Podz has fresh legs)

4. Suter Aman Lafferty

give the fourth line minimal minutes. Like 5 minutes. and run run this top 9 until the wheels fall off.

 

[fahad203]

His most consistent winger is Mikheyev. Edmonton could leave him unmarked and the worst he could do is a shot into the crest of the goalie. Even Skinner could stop all his shots!

Mikheyev is okay defensively but he's an offensive blackhole. For a visual representation, Mikheyev is like this:

View attachment 871111

Fun fact, in in 22 playoff games with the Leafs, he score 2 goals
Both were in the same game
Both were empy netters

 

[Phrasing]

He's been meh since after the all-star break not just the playoffs. Lost his mojo or something.

 

[Three On Zero]

I dunno, sounds quite bad for a 11.5 million player. That's 3 more millions in salary than Leon frigging Draisaitl.

7.3 million?

And strap him to McDavid like Draisaitl is and he produces more, he just stuck with with usual 3rd line wingers

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

I still find it weird that he was having a really good season and insisted that he wouldn't talk contract until season is over. Then his play goes off a cliff and two weeks later he signs his deal. Could be completely unrelated, but it definitely gave the impression that something happened and he knew he wasn't going to match his previous season's production and needed to get the deal done.

It happened like that because the Canucks management pushed him to get the deal done

 

[nowhereman]

At this point, I'm not expecting a miraculous turnaround. Which is unbelievably disappointing, as the Canucks have a path to the Finals and their #1C mailing it in is going to haunt them.

 

[My3Sons]

I presume Tocchet spoke to Pettersson more than once before going public with this but on some level this isn't a great way for the coach and top player to get on the same page. Hard to imagine Pettersson suddenly lost a lot of his talent and stopped trying.