What’s the story with Elias Pettersson?

[britdevil]

1 even strength goal in the last 40 games.

7M is generous right now.

He signed his contract in March. At that point he had 2 30+ goal seasons, 1 100+ point season and was having a pretty good season to that point.

$7m in RFA, coming off that output, does not get you that player. You know this.

 

[Breakers]

He's been missing Kuzmenko, it started when Vancouver traded Kuzy.

Yup, it was a stupid trade

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

The takes in here are hilarious, pretty much all conjecture, and likely 98% are inaccurate.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

maybe Tochett rubs him the wrong way and they're not seeing eye-to-eye and its affecting his play

 

[notsocommonsense]

Are the Canucks trying to ruin his career? If he's dealing with a nagging knee just sit him for as long as it takes for him to be 100%. Who the fornicating sign a player to a 8 year contract then only wants him at 80% of his capacity for several of those years?

He just had an entire offseason

 

[thekernel]

The story is that Canucks fans are nutters who need to chill

 

[NVious]

Playing with someone as good as JT Miller is demoralizing, you go the same practices, same PT sessions, same restaurants eating the same food and the guy is 10x the player you are, it's just not fair, why even try?

 

[Else Ermine]

Is it just me, or... are posters on here being a bit over-critical of Pettersson?

Criticism is certainly warranted. He's played like a third liner and a shadow of what he's capable of. It is frustrating to watch.
Every team always has it's scapegoats and Pettersson's $11.6m contract will have him being the number 1 target until his play improves significantly. That'd be the case anywhere. I do believe Canucks fans are amongst the most prone kick up a fuss about their problems though. The truth is very few Canucks have looked good to start and have been comparatively underwhelming.

However, certainly the production fall-off from mid-February is quite dramatic.

Pretty much from the All Star break his play fell off a cliff and stayed at the same level to the end of the year. Historically he's far more physical involved than the memey posters would have you believe because of his size but that has genuinely fallen off, along with his eagerness to shoot or skate aggressively. Three games into this season it doesn't look better.
Obviously it should improve with time, he's far better than this, but who knows how long it'll take.

 

[crowfish]

maybe Tochett rubs him the wrong way and they're not seeing eye-to-eye and its affecting his play

I wonder about that too. Pettersson had amazing chemistry with Kuzmenko and was off to the best start of his career in 2023-24. His stats started slowing down right around the time Tochett started benching & scratching Kuzmenko, and then after the trade Pettersson had an awful finish to the year.

Playing with someone as good as JT Miller is demoralizing, you go the same practices, same PT sessions, same restaurants eating the same food and the guy is 10x the player you are, it's just not fair, why even try?

Weird comment since JT Miller didn't reach Petterssons level untill about age 28.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

The first few games of every season weird things happen so it’s not much use to draw conclusions. The cream rises to the top as the season goes on. If he’s still struggling at 20 games, and with the ending to last season, then it could be time to raise some eyebrows

 

[Look Up]

Only half joking - I'm shocked this thread hasn't been locked down yet. This is one of those subjects that cannot be discussed. Reasons.

 

[Tob]

I see the same problems as zibanejad. No mental willingness and joy to contact and battles. It’s like walking on grass for me. I dont want to step in someone’s dog’s turd so i always look and take one step at a time. It’s no way to play.

The getting rid of the puck, limited effectiveness etc. toch came along and demanded battle and grit and that’s when it went downhill.

Zibanwjad had a scary head injury too. He also got his contract around the .

 

[notsocommonsense]

The story is that Canucks fans are nutters who need to chill

Yea, pettersen looks fine. Nothing to see here, move along

 

[CanadasTeam99]

1) Physically he is not built for heavy playoff style hockey. He’s afraid to engage in physical play.

2) He displays very very poor body language. He’s sulking when things don’t go his way. Gives up on plays.

3) He has very poor balance and a weak core. He’s often found face down ass up on the ice.

4) He has v low intensity. He never drives play. He rarely takes over a game even though he has the skill too.

Very high skillled weak and weak minded player who Vancouver made their highest paid player.

Nightmare situation for Canucks fans including me.

Is he that afraid? I seen him take big runs at Oiler players in the series, but it is an weird charge and jump and hit with your back move he does. Mayne he hurt something

 

[CanadasTeam99]

It’s a case of overpaiditus. Funny how his play and body language soured from when he signed. This happens to a lot of stars. He might regain form but it might take time. Hopefully he isn’t sniffing coke for the next several years like Price then finally enters the PAP 4 yrs from now.

I think one thing that can irk fans is when he had that one interview where he said he wants to see what Vancouver can do for him and he wants to play on a very good team.

Vancouver has a crazy year last year and he starts sucking after half of it lol. He didn't hold his end of the bargain.

i think he was forced into signing the deal when he was not 100% sure he wanted to stay long term witht hat trade threat to Carolina

 

[Diogenes92]

Are the Canucks trying to ruin his career? If he's dealing with a nagging knee just sit him for as long as it takes for him to be 100%. Who the fornicating sign a player to a 8 year contract then only wants him at 80% of his capacity for several of those years?

Tochett was quoted as stating that his medical staff didn't seem to think the knee issue was as serious as Pettersson was making it out to be. I think it was during season-ending interviews.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

I thought he would come out hot out of the gate now that he finally has a top 6 winger in Debrusk.

 

[Lawzy]

I wonder about that too. Pettersson had amazing chemistry with Kuzmenko and was off to the best start of his career in 2023-24. His stats started slowing down right around the time Tochett started benching & scratching Kuzmenko, and then after the trade Pettersson had an awful finish to the year.

Between the 1st time Kuzmenko was scratched until he was traded, Pettersson scored 19G-17A-36P in 29GP including 1st Star of the Week in January and 3rd Star of the Month.

After he was traded Pettersson's play did take a sharp dive but this is also reportedly when he injured his knee so I don't buy the logic we can blame the Kuzmenko trade.

I also don't buy the logic that the knee injury is the cause (especially if you watch the kid) but it certainly didn't help.

 

[ItWasJustified]

He just had an entire offseason

So what if he's still dealing with the injury?

 

[Bobby9]

So what if he's still dealing with the injury?

Then he shouldnt be playing

 

[ItWasJustified]

Then he shouldnt be playing

Exactly.

 

[Half Clapper]

He will be fine.

 

[Jay26]

Just throwing it out there and it's probably not the case, but I wonder if he really wanted to sign his contract. He sort of signed it under threat of being traded.

A lot of us have speculated this. It actually makes sense. He was definitely not expecting the team to take the massive step it did last season. The narrative was supposed to be the Canucks couldn't escape their dysfunction and he wanted to move on. There would have been disappointment obviously but people would understand to a degree. Then when things started coming together rapidly, suddenly it looks really weird if he still refuses to sign.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

I'm pretty sure he had intended on forcing a trade before the team blew the doors off last season. The Benning years had taken their toll and he had to deal with so much bullshit since his rookie season. He had a ton of media/fan pressure to commit because of his comments of wanting to "play for a winner" and ultimately caved when the noise got to be too much.

I still think they should have moved him to Carolina if that deal was indeed on the table. The rumored package of Jarvis/Necas/prospect/1st was solid value and would have made our forward group much deeper.

As it stands, his production was a problem at $7 million per...at $11.6 million it is a goddamn boat anchor. He needs to turn it around or this franchise is FUBAR.

 

[Jay26]

The story is that Canucks fans are nutters who need to chill

This gaslighting is what's nuts. There's no way I'm going to be told us fans are overreacting to what we're seeing clearly on the ice. GTFO with this.