Canucks: 3 takeaways from Elias Pettersson’s 2019-20 season
Pettersson was healthy this year
As great as Pettersson was in his rookie season, he was easily hurt. Fans were a touch skeptical about his size from the start, but considering he was only 165 pounds at the time, that’s really not that hard to believe. And after seeing their star player throttled into the boards by Florida Panthers defender Mike Matherson, fans only grew more worried.
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Sick of being pushed around, Pettersson went to work in the offseason. Soon, September rolled around and he came back to training camp a Captain America look-alike. He added 12 pounds of muscle over the summer and rightfully took his place as the most in-shape roster player. He was clearly head and shoulders above everyone else. No more missing games.
The season began and Pettersson was back, only this time, Pettersson was bigger, faster, and stronger. He learned to anticipate a high impact hit in time to either get out of the way or position himself in a way that allowed him to absorb contact and quickly bounce back. In fact, Pettersson even grew capable of lashing out himself. The perfect example came in a game versus the LA Kings. Pettersson rocked Alec Martinez not once, but twice! You can watch it here.
A big moment for Pettersson came later in the season when he was viciously struck by a late hit from Boston Bruins blueliner, Matt Grzelcyk. It was brutally behind the play, and honestly quite dirty. The old Pettersson would have been down for the count from a hit like that, but the new Pettersson got back on the horse. Missing only the next game as a last-minute precaution set by Travis Green, the Alien returned to help carry his team into the play-in series they face now.