Elias Pettersson just has not been the superstar hockey fans and Vancouver Canucks fans have come to know him to be this season.
That theme continued on Monday night, when Pettersson played a season-low 16:38 of ice time in the Canucks' 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Pettersson finished with a minus-1 plus-minus rating for the second game in a row, and although the 25-year-old came into this game riding a three-game point streak (including his first goal of the year), Pettersson came out flat again.
The numbers tend to agree, too. According to Moneypuck, Pettersson finished the loss to the Hurricanes with an expected goals percentage of 64.88%, which is an objectively good number. The missing context, though, is that the Hurricanes had just three players finish over 52% in that category. They played pretty poorly and probably deserved to lose to the Canucks at the end of the day.
Additionally, Pettersson's two linemates, Conor Garland and Jake DeBrusk, finished with 68.01% and 66.3% marks, respectively.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet stopped himself from further discussing Pettersson's line in his postgame press conference, only offering insight as to why he removed Nils Hoglander from it during the game.
The goal of this article, too, is not to pile onto the criticism Pettersson has undoubtedly faced so early into this season, but the facts are the facts. He has one goal in eight games, has only 12 shots on goal, is scoring at an 8.3% clip, has one power play point, and is on pace for 41 points in total.
That sounds nothing like the Elias Pettersson who has scored 73 goals, 118 assists, and 191 points in 162 games across the last two seasons. We cannot help but deduct that Pettersson is off right now. It is unclear whether that is a mental battle, a physical battle, or a mixture of both.
The All-Star Swede signed an eight-year, $92 million contract extension on March 2, which is a large investment. The Canucks need him, and they needed him to play like he was that guy who can take over games in a mostly hapless loss to a good Hurricanes team. It didn't happen, though, and the Canucks cheaply gave away another point in the standings for the third time this season.
Indeed, it is early, but those points will add up by the end of the season. Pettersson and Tocchet are going to need to work towards a solution if the Canucks have any aspirations at all of competing for a Stanley Cup this season, especially without Thatcher Demko.