The daily top story on Hockey Hot Stove is powered by Watrhouse Brands, dedicated to quality, consumer education and awareness: Benevolent Bakery, SoSHEL beverages and Smokiez vegan fruit chews. Today: Elias Pettersson.
NHL hockey is finally back after the long and thrilling Olympic break, and all eyes in Canuckland are on Elias Pettersson, just as they were before the Olympics started.
Pettersson is on a 2nd consecutive down year from what he’s been capable of in the past, and because of the Canucks dive into a rebuild, his future with the organization is hotly debated.
Many people saw the Olympics as a way for Pettersson to get his feet wet in some high competition hockey, and emerge on the other side as the play we knew from 2+ years ago. Though this hope was also present when Pettersson represented Sweden at the 4 Nations tournament last year, and though Pettersson has been “better” since then, he is still a long way away from the player he was.
Pettersson had a good (not great) Olympics
As for the Olympics, Pettersson had himself a good tournament, but far from a great one. Pettersson’s two-goal performance against Slovakia propelled Sweden to their 2nd win of the tournament, but a late goal by Slovakia’s Dalibor Dvorsky lost Sweden their tie-breaker to win their group.
Eventually Sweden would meet the eventual Gold medal winning team USA in the quarter finals, losing a close fight 2-1 in overtime. Although Pettersson did not record a point in his last and most important game of the tournament, his strong defensive play shined through as he helped contain a star studded American team off the scoresheet during his minutes.
“It was a cool experience. Olympics, representing Sweden. A dream come true.” Pettersson commented after arriving back in Vancouver. When asked his thoughts on how team Sweden competed, Pettersson remarked “Yeah, we gave it our all. I think the game against the U.S could go either way. We tied it late but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Now that NHL hockey is back underway, the focus shifts from “will Pettersson have a good tournament” to “can Pettersson learn from it and be better?”. The Canucks will have no shortage of adversity to contend with down the stretch towards the trade deadline. As it stands now, you can expect several Canucks players to be with other clubs in a few weeks time. As well, the team is in a tailspin towards their worst record in franchise history. In a year that has already seen their captain, and franchise cornerstone, traded, this final stretch will not be easy for anyone.
Pettersson should have one focus for the rest of the season, regardless of standings or the scores in his games. Be the best player I can be. Pettersson has only ever shown love for the city of Vancouver, and for the Canucks organization and team. If he wants to be a part of seeing this rebuild completed, he has to prove he can still be that franchise forward peice he looked like he was only 2-3 years ago.
Pettersson still has 6 years remaining on his 11.6 million AAV deal, which will expire when he is 33. That is enough time, if the Canucks organization wills it, to include Pettersson in this rebuild and allow him to help see it to the other side. But it will take more from Pettersson than to just stick around. In the 2022-23 season, Petey had 39 goals, 63 assists, for 102 points in 80 games. This year Pettersson is only on pace for 20 goals and 32 assists for 52 points in 74 games.
There are 25 games left in the season for Pettersson to win back favour with fans and the organization this year, but only 4 games before the trade deadline. Now it seems unlikely that Pettersson will be shipped away this season, though as we saw with the Quinn Hughes trade, things can happen very quickly.
Canucks are back in action tonight hosting the Winnipeg Jets.
