What’s the story with Elias Pettersson?

[Monkey D Luffy]

It's because I drafted him in fantasy. Made the same mistake a couple of years ago and he was invisible. I'm sorry Canucks fans this will never happen again.

 

[PaulD]

I don't know what rhe story is. But I knowim never taking him in my pool again.
Got the money and looks like he has no desire to get better. Watched him play the other night. Yikes.

 

[Svencouver]

I think hes lost his passion to play.

I also think this is kind of it. He seems like a very "on/off" motivation type of player, where he either feels a particular sort of challenge and drive to relentlessly devote himself to something, or has total burnout where he has no interest in that thing at all. It's pretty common with young people these days. He's extremely talented, but I dont know if hes as single-minded about hockey as someone like McDavid, who is totally exceptional in how much theyve committed their entire self and identity to hockey. I dont really know how you fix this or if you can, it's a long career filled with long seasons; I'm surprised more players dont experience burnout more often.

 

[FlameChampion]

I also think this is kind of it. He seems like a very "on/off" motivation type of player, where he either feels a particular sort of challenge and drive to relentlessly devote himself to something, or has total burnout where he has no interest in that thing at all. It's pretty common with young people these days. He's extremely talented, but I dont know if hes as single-minded about hockey as someone like McDavid, who is totally exceptional in how much theyve committed their entire self and identity to hockey. I dont really know how you fix this or if you can, it's a long career filled with long seasons; I'm surprised more players dont experience burnout more often.

I think the burnout probably happens a lot. There’s probably more players that like money than playing the game. But if I had to guess, I still think the vast majority of athletes are competitive. So even if a player or athlete is checked out, the switch still gets flipped a bit because they are still competitive. I think Petterson might just suffer from passion and competitive issues.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Disappointing career progression. I remember watching him during the bubble playoffs and thinking he's a future HHOF. He has the talent, don't think he's got the fire.

 

[Svencouver]

I think the burnout probably happens a lot. There’s probably more players that like money than playing the game. But if I had to guess, I still think the vast majority of athletes are competitive. So even if a player or athlete is checked out, the switch still gets flipped a bit because they are still competitive. I think Petterson might just suffer from passion and competitive issues.

I think he also needs to get used to being the highest paid guy on the team. I'm sure that causes a pretty big psychological weight to be on his shoulders now, and his decline in play is essentially 100% correlated to how much in the foreground his contract has been (negotiations + actually having it signed, has been very forward and public about how much he didn't want to think about it and put off signing it). At some point, he's just going to have to get used to it and ignore how much he's getting paid. Being anxious about living up to that number or feeling guilty for not doing so will just make him spiral further.

 

[centipede2233]

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

I think he needs to work at McDonald’s flippin burgers and taking orders for minimum wage for a week to rediscover his passion for hockey

 

[kanucks25]

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?

If sitting out would help he would have been sat out.

Apparently it's an injury that can be played through the and the recovery time won't be any faster if he was shut down.

The question is: is the injury the only/main thing that is causing his major dip in play? One can only speculate, as you've seen in this thread.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

We need to stop holding every "star" up the same standard as driven players like Crosby, McDavid, and MacKinnon. As good as EP he is (and he is) he's going to have off nights and tough stretches. At the end of the season, he'll likely be an 80-90 point player. Not my choice to build a team around, but a very good player nonetheless that has warts like most do.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Plays a different game, but he reminds me of Barkov before Jagr got into his head. Best player on the ice for stretches, then disappears when things aren't clicking. It's easy to say such players are soft, but I'm not sure that's right.

 

[authentic]

It's because people compared him to Matthews and even insisted he was better. Same thing happened to Laine and several others.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

It's because people compared him to Matthews and even insisted he was better. Same thing happened to Laine and several others.

He was better than Matthews for a few seasons there. Just didn't take that next step into the top 5-10.

 

[Coffee]

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

Send him to New Jersey for Hischer then

 

[authentic]

He was better than Matthews for a few seasons there. Just didn't take that next step into the top 5-10.

A few? My comment was only a joke btw, but no he was better than Matthews during his one down season where he played injured the entire year. I guess they were pretty close one other year as well.

 

[Coffee]

Exactly.

I understand but who will take the hard matchups then?

 

[thekernel]

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.

Again, you need to chill

 

[Svencouver]

We need to stop holding every "star" up the same standard as driven players like Crosby, McDavid, and MacKinnon. As good as EP he is (and he is) he's going to have off nights and tough stretches. At the end of the season, he'll likely be an 80-90 point player. Not my choice to build a team around, but a very good player nonetheless that has warts like most do.

This. Very, very few people in the history of their sport are as obsessive about it as guys like Kobe, Lebron, Jordan, Crosby, MacKinnon, McDavid, etc. It's a unique psychological quirk that I feel that most human brains straight up dont have; the ability to constantly pursue improvement at a single thing at all times for years on end with no real waning of that drive or motivation. It'd border on "unhealthy" obsession levels if it didn't work out for them like it does.

 

[elmaco]

Maybe he's bipolar.

 

[crowfish]

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.

I guess the timeline I remembered in my head was off, thank you for correcting me. I'll toss that theory out.

 

[kanucks25]

We need to stop holding every "star" up the same standard as driven players like Crosby, McDavid, and MacKinnon. As good as EP he is (and he is) he's going to have off nights and tough stretches. At the end of the season, he'll likely be an 80-90 point player. Not my choice to build a team around, but a very good player nonetheless that has warts like most do.

Unfortunately he's getting paid like those players now.

Don't blame him for taking the bag but the criticism comes with that territory.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

I fear they paid for future potential and past performance without considering today.

 

[IComeInPeace]

As a Canucks fan, and someone who has not only refused to criticize him but defended him over and over since last season….

…he does really seem like one of the most mentally weak players I’ve ever come across in over 4 decades of following the sport.

He’s eventually going to get Tocchet fired if he can’t get his head out of his butt.
You can’t pay a guy 11.6 million per year and have him go completely AWOL without it eventually effecting the coaches job security.
That’s just way too much of the cap to overcome when a player decides to put himself on unofficial LTIR.

 

[crowfish]

Unfortunately he's getting paid like those players now.

Don't blame him for taking the bag but the criticism comes with that territory.

He is only paid like them because they signed their contracts a long time ago or in Crosby's case he is just a legend who would rather improve playoff odds than make a few extra mill.

Draisaitl just signed 14mill per. There are going to be a lot of players getting 10-11mill contracts in the future that are far below the Crosby/McDavid/MacKinnon tier. Nylander got the same as Pettersson around the same time. The narrative that he is paid like the top 3 players is only true at the surface level.

Btw, I am not claiming that he is playing up to the standards of a 11.6mill contract so far, just pointing out that his contract is a fair one for the player Pettersson is (hopefully is and not WAS)

 

[crazychimp]

I hope this is one of those jinx threads, not sure what it is but there was a change in his play middle of last season. He’s probably playing injured still.

Edit: This could be an extension of that, think about it if he had tendinitis in his knee going into round 2 in the playoffs, he probably didn’t have enough time to get in game shape for the season because of it. Rumor has it he was not the best shape this training camp.

 

[Turin]

Way too many posters completely missing the point trying to dunk on Nucks fans. The guy has looked like crap for a while now, it’s not just that he’s not Crosby or McDavid. In the playoffs he straight up looked like a bottom six player. He has a problem, whether it’s injury or mental, it’s not just that he’s a star who isn’t generational.