The noise around
Vancouver Canucks centre
Elias Pettersson is reaching something of a fever pitch. It’s clear he’s aware of it, and equally clear he has no real desire to discuss it with the media.
“You can look at the stats and say I stink,” Pettersson said to a scrum of reporters following Canucks practice on Wednesday, “but I feel like I’ve been better.”
It wasn’t a lot, but it was more than Pettersson was willing to discuss with
The Athletic when we asked him how he felt about his game and what he was doing to work through it in Chicago earlier this week. It’s both fair and understandable that he doesn’t particularly want to analyze the matter publicly, but it’s a conversation that isn’t going to end on its own.
Only his performance can put it to bed.
Because, as Pettersson noted Wednesday, the statistical record really is stark. And the fact that it’s impossible to really make sense of, given his Hall of Fame level production in his first 400
NHL games, only adds an air of mystery and interest to the funk he’s in.
Including the club’s 13-game run in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, Pettersson has gone over 30 games without scoring a five-on-five goal, a stretch that extends back to early March.
Pettersson, a better-than-point-per-game player throughout his career, has recorded 34 points across his last 53 games dating back to the All-Star break. That’s a 53-point-per-82-game pace, which doesn’t stink particularly, but it’s an uncharacteristically pedestrian haul for a gifted offensive forward like Pettersson, who has never produced fewer than 66 points in a full NHL season in his career.
“It’s getting better,” Pettersson said earlier this week in Chicago. “I’m just trying to be the best player I can be every game. Some games go better, some games don’t. Whatever happens, I’ll always try to be the best player I can be every game.”
It is true that, at the very least, Pettersson’s new line with
Nils Höglander and
Conor Garland was consistently dangerous over the past week. Internally, the club feels like he’s taken some baby steps toward improving, a sentiment his linemates echoed in Chicago.
“I think Petey is finding his game, it takes time,” Garland said. “I’ve had starts to the season where you just can’t find your game no matter what, you start to press and it takes longer, but I don’t think he’s pressing. He’s just playing his game. He’s looked good up the middle, holding onto the puck, making plays, good defensively — especially in the third period (in Philadelphia) he was really good defensively.”
It also seems like we should view Pettersson’s slow start as being distinct from what we saw down the stretch and into the playoffs last season. Not to lower the bar here, but Pettersson’s shot attempt rate has rebounded and he’s drawing penalties at his normal rate, a good sign that he’s beating defenders and getting inside his check with more frequency.
Now if Pettersson can maintain this level of play for a couple of weeks, get that elusive bounce to end that five-on-five scoreless streak and get back to producing the way he customarily has, this conversation — with the overly scrutinized practice kerfuffle between him and
J.T. Miller, the analysis of his splits, the endless criticism — should come to a natural conclusion.
Canucks fans and media alike, however, are just trying to understand what’s going on with Pettersson’s game. Since he’s unwilling to provide those answers himself in interviews, the only option remaining is to answer those questions with his play.
Let’s open our notebook and cover Höglander’s increased role, the club’s cap-motivated loans this week and the latest on the club’s posture on the trade market as it pertains to landing that elusive top-four upgrade on defence.
