Vancouver Canucks top prospects of week 20: Stukel, Pettersson, Lind
No. 2 – C/RW Elias Pettersson (Vaxjo, SHL)
Elias Pettersson isn’t in the number one spot? Sacrilege! Settle down, people. Pettersson still have a very good week. Vaxjo played in three games where Pettersson scored three goals and added two apples to his weekly total.
The best player in the Vancouver Canucks prospect school is up to 21 goals and 30 assists this season. And what’s my favourite thing to do when Pettersson pads those stats? Telling you which players he passed on the all time list. And GIFs. Lots of GIFs.
Yes, Canucks fans. You can now brag to your friends that Elias Pettersson has officially had a better U20 SHL season than Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Peter Forsberg. The past week puts Pettersson back on top of the SHL and he only needs three points in his three remaining games to tie Kent Nilsson.
If (or when) Pettersson gets there, he could not do it in the same number of games as Nilsson (36), but the feat is still astounding. Canucks can be happy with a very promising draft+1 season from the young forward.
Vaxjo’s GM and GIFs
Before the GIFs, I want to quickly go over what Vaxjo GM Henrik Evertsson sees in Pettersson since he has the closest view of him. Rick Dhaliwal got a chance to speak with him and you may be interested in what he said.
Evertsson on Pettersson's great season : "Nobody saw 50 points, it's not easy to get 50 points it's phenomenal. We didn't expect it but he is an over-all talent, his shot stands out." #Canucks
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) March 2, 2018
Evertsson on Pettersson passing Peter Forsberg's numbers : "Players like Forsberg and Sundin were more complete players, Elias is not far behind but lacks the physical maturity." #Canucks
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) March 2, 2018
The need for physical maturity is something scouts have brought up since he was drafted. His physical development is a work in progress, but ultimately I am not concerned about it.
Pettersson will work hard and slowly add muscle as he goes. You don’t want a situation where he adds too much weight in an offseason. Just look at how Linden Vey and Jared McCann got much slower after the Canucks told them to add weight. In a game about speed, balance will be the key. Jake Virtanen eventually learned that lesson in Utica. I don’t think that mistake will be made with Pettersson.
As for his production, everyone paying close attention to Pettersson would have been satisfied with point-per-game production. Much like Brock Boeser did at the NHL level, it was nice to see Pettersson shatter expections in the SHL.
We also learned from the interview that Pettersson won’t be joining the Utica Comets this year since he will likely play for Sweden in the World Championships. Alright, now the thing you have been waiting for. Bask in the Elias Pettersson GIFs, courtesy of Ryan Biech. Please note that this post is unable to contain all of the flash-based awesomeness that is Elias Pettersson. If you are not following Ryan Biech on Twitter, DO IT!