Vancouver Canucks: Comparing their young guns to NHL stars

Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson have been leading the way as the Canucks battle to stay in the playoff conversation, but how do the two Canucks young stars stack up to other key players throughout the league, statistically?

As I watched the Vancouver Canucks battle the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night, I, like many Canucks fans, was treated yet again to an outstanding goal from Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson.

I watched him beat Mikko Koskinen short side with a beauty of a wrist shot and thought to myself for at least the fiftieth time this season, “Wow this kid is good.” I thought further, just how good is he, in comparison to other star players throughout the NHL?

I began my research to see how the Canucks’ rookie stacked up statistically with some of the league’s most outstanding players, in particular, Steven Stamkos, and Connor McDavid. My findings then lead me to continue to search how another Canucks young gun, Brock Boeser, stacked up against some of the league’s best.

I’m not saying Pettersson is superior to Stamkos and McDavid, or that Brock Boeser will surpass Nikita Kucherov and Patrick Kane in goals when all is said and done. I am simply stating, statistically speaking, how our young guns compare with bonafide NHL superstars, through their first couple seasons in the league. Some may call this idea a stretch, but I myself found these numbers to be rather interesting.

Elias Pettersson

Let’s start with the Swedish wonder-kid who has taken the league by storm and dominated the rookie scoring race. Pettersson holds a 1.083 points per game, with a total of 39 points through his first 36 games played. These are impressive numbers, and while many have stated that there’s no way Pettersson can keep up this pace, he hasn’t given us any reason to believe he can’t.

Let’s get into the comparisons. We all saw the comparison that was included in the broadcast after a whistle during the Thursday evening battle in Edmonton. The one that had some Edmonton Oilers fans on Twitter sharpening their pitchforks, as Vancouver fans continue to jokingly imply that Pettersson is indeed superior to Connor McDavid.

The comparison showed Elias Pettersson’s numbers through the first 34 games of his career in comparison to Connor McDavid. Pettersson, based on the stats, seems to have a slight edge on McDavid in most major categories through the first 34 games of his career.

McDavid had 35 points through his first 34 games while Pettersson, to the displeasure of Oilers fans everywhere, had 38. Is Pettersson better than McDavid? Probably not, but the fact that this is even a conversation, should get Canucks fans everywhere excited.

I was then intrigued to see how Steven Stamkos’ rookie year stacked up to Pettersson. In his rookie year in the 2008-09 season, Stamkos put up 46 points through 79 games. That means he had a points per game of 0.58 and a goals per game of 0.29. Stamkos obviously exploded in his next year with Tampa Bay, putting up 95 points and winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. In his sophomore season, he had a points per game of 1.15 and a goals per game of 0.62.

Do with these numbers what you will, but it is certainly a promising sight to see that Pettersson is exceeding the expectations of everybody in the hockey world and playing at a higher level than other stars throughout the league did in their rookie seasons. If Pettersson can keep up his current pace, he will put up numbers strikingly similar to the ones seen in Stamkos’ sophomore year, in just his rookie year. Here’s hoping he can continue to only go up from here.

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Brock Boeser

Next up, let’s take a look how the Canucks rookie sensation from a year ago stacks up against some elite right-wingers.

The first comparable is Nikita Kucherov. We won’t even look deep into the numbers he put up in his rookie campaign, because Kucherov was very limited in his 52 games played, with nine goals and nine assists for a total of 18 points.

In his sophomore season, Kucherov put up 65 points and 29 goals in his first full season in the NHL.

This sophomore season is the season we will use to compare with Boeser, due to the fact that Kucherov developed later than Brock did. Brock made a splash in his rookie year, while Kucherov took a little while longer to make his presence known.

In his rookie year that came to a premature ending, Boeser tallied 55 points in 62 games. Good enough for a points per game of 0.89 and a goals per game of 0.47. Kucherov, in his sophomore season, had a points per game of 0.79 and a goals per game of 0.35. Kucherov tallied 29 goals in that first full season, the same number of goals Boeser had in his aforementioned shortened rookie campaign.

While some worried that Boeser would suffer from the dreaded “sophomore slump” after a slow start to this season, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as Brock currently has a points per game of 0.897 and a goals per game of 0.483. These stats would suggest that Brock is improving upon his stellar rookie season, and much like Pettersson, here’s hoping Boeser only continues to improve his game.

Who’s another elite right-winger in the NHL? How about fellow American Patrick Kane? In his first season with the Chicago Blackhawks, Kane tallied 72 points in 82 games, scoring 21 goals in the process. Kane had a points per game of 0.88, which is one digit below Brock’s previously mentioned 0.89 points per game. In his sophomore season, Kane yet again had a points per game of 0.88, as mentioned above, Brock is boasting a 0.897 points per game played in his sophomore year.

Like I said, do with this information what you will. None of the stats above mean for certain that either of the Canucks young stars will surpass the other NHL stars that were mentioned in this article. I personally just found the numbers to be quite intriguing. Nonetheless, these numbers aren’t bad for a fifth and 23rd overall pick.

What do you think Canucks fans? Will Pettersson and Brock go down as two of the best of their generation when all is said and done?

*Stats courtesy of Hockey Reference and Quant Hockeyunless otherwise noted*