Canucks: 3 takeaways from Elias Pettersson’s 2019-20 season

Pettersson gains possession

Pettersson’s added size made it a lot easier to hold onto the puck in year two with the Canucks.  His Corsi For Percentage rose over four percent between seasons from a 51.4CF% last year to a 55.7CF% this year, and that’s purely incredible. Considering the massive jump in the attention he received from the opposition this year as opposed to last (now that his skill-level is public knowledge), you’d expect the numbers to drop or stay roughly the same.

Thanks to the addition of J.T. Miller, Dekey Pete and the Lotto Line took things to a whole nother level for the Vancouver Canucks. Despite nearly a 10% drop in offensive starts, Pettersson beat the odds and became one of this year’s best possession players.  He may not have scored ten goals in the same amount of games, but his attention to perfecting the little things went a long way in how he controlled play.

With the ability to get the puck up ice to create scoring opportunities coming from Quinn Hughes, Pettersson was able to shift his focus to quietly get positioned and wait for his chance to strike. The attention Hughes was able to take away from Pettersson only helped the two become one of the NHL’s deadliest duo’s.

I’m not saying that Pettersson needed another elite player sharing the ice with him to help boost his numbers, but it doesn’t hurt to know that Hughes will be padding Pettersson’s stats for years to come. It all starts with gaining possession of the puck and keeping it.