The curious case of Elias Pettersson

I think Elias Pettersson is still a good player who can return to his full form one day and still has potential to be an offensive threat in the NHL. Based on what I've seen he does work hard, but there's parts he needs to learn to improve his game. He was well on track once upon a time, but I think locker room issues soured things for him last season. It may take one or two seasons, but I think he has a similar comeback Marcus Naslund did. 

Pettersson had an outstanding season before they brought JT Miller in. In Miller's defense, he was not one for a young core but needed to be on a team he could do a lot more on. But if the Canucks never traded for Miller I think Pettersson would've been the producer every single season. In 2019-20 he finished second in scoring after JT Miller; in the playoffs that year in the bubble, he and JT Miller both tied the lead in team scoring with eighteen points. In 2020-21 he missed most of the season but had twenty-one points in twenty-six games; if he stayed healthy he would've likely been at the top of scoring. But in 2021-22 JT Miller had ninety-nine points while both Hughes and Pettersson each had sixty-eight points. In 2022-23, Pettersson led the Canucks in scoring with one-hundred and two points leading in every single point category which was goals, assists, points, and plus-minus while also having a total of fourteen penalty minutes. I think this shows me how much of a team player he was. 

The 2023-24 season was interesting, because JT Miller sold the most jerseys that entire season after leading the Canucks in goals and points; Quinn Hughes led in assists. Pettersson was third in scoring, but controversy happened when he signed a big contract making him the highest paid player on the team. I'm not going to into JT Miller, but it looked like Miller did want to win but more him not so much the team whereas it shows me more that Pettersson was a team player who was bullied by JT Miller. But in this upcoming season we should see what happens with Pettersson as this is one interesting year for the Canucks.

The reason it's interesting to me is because I know Pettersson can be a star in this league, but right now he needs less pressure and just needs to play hockey where maybe in two seasons can be a leader. I look back in 2017-18 with the Vaxjo Lakers he was tied for the team lead in goals, led in assists and points. He also had nineteen points in thirteen games in the playoffs winning the championship, and the SHL is one of the best leagues in the world. But I believe JT Miller was a big set back in his mental game which I think was what set him back. The truth to all this for me is he was meant to be a Canuck and is the exact player for that team, and I think moving him wouldn't make a difference as the Canucks won't be able to find another number one centre like him. I think he can have consistent one-hundred point seasons or as little as over eighty as he is a good hockey player. Let's not forget, a star like Nathan MacKinnon had three straight seasons after winning the Calder of having twenty less points than games played; but my reason for thinking he was limited to points was because he was in the shadow of Matt Duchene because after he left his points skyrocketed, but the big similarity to this is Duchene was a vet who had a fairly similar age gap as Miller and Pettersson. Also, the Avalanche had bad years when MacKinnon was in Duchene's shadow, and this was a bad year for the Canucks where captain Quinn Hughes, one of the best defenseman in this league along with another Avalanche player known as Cale Makar. This is why I think Pettersson will rebound next season, and Canucks fans will see how good he is in the near future.