Elias Pettersson has been one of the most polarizing players to put on a Canucks uniform since debuting during the 2018-2019 season. He presents exceptional skill when he is engaged and playing with confidence, but these mental lapses could be the difference between him being good and great.
He has assumed the role as the Canucks bonafide number one centre since J.T. Miller was traded to the New York Rangers, and is only trailing Conor Garland amongst Canucks forwards in ice time this season, averaging 19:43 per game, while also occupying a spot on the top power play unit.
I believe there is often a misconception with Pettersson in terms of his ability or desire to engage physically as he is averaging 2 blocks per game and 1.3 hits per game, the latter being in line with his last four seasons.
Reason for concern
The concerning part about Pettersson this season is that he has just eight points in 13 games, and only 20 shots on goal so far putting him at an average of 1.5 shots per game. The downward trend of shots and points began last season, as he never averaged less than 0.85 points per game or less than 2 shots on goal per game prior to the 2024-2025 season. And despite this career low of shots on goal per game last season, he had a career worst shooting percentage of 13.8%, 1.4% lower from his next worst career mark.
This marks a troubling trend for a player who can absolutely wire the puck. Since the start of the 2021-2022 season, he has been in the 90th percentile of shots in the 80-100 mile per hour range and has a career shooting percentage of 16.3% to back it up, a mark that is even better than Maple Leafs sniper Auston Matthews at 15.7%.
Something that stands out in all of this for Pettersson is where the shots are coming from. Pettersson had played almost his entire career with play maker extraordinaire, J.T. Miller, who has had a reputation of setting up his teammates for goals and had been an assist machine on the Canucks. Without someone like Miller to distribute the puck and patiently open up lanes in the offensive zone, especially on the power play, Pettersson finds himself with less time, less space, less quality opportunities and more defenders in his face as his shots through percentage went from never being below 49.4%, to 43.4% in 2024-2025, and to just 40% this season.
A point of importance in this fact is that his shot blocks against per shots on goal for has been trending up each of the last two seasons, and in terms of shot location, his high-danger and mid-range attempts have declined on a per game basis for each of the last three seasons as he seems more willing to defer to teammates.
The Canucks must find ways to create, and Pettersson must assert himself
As a man who had come off of three straight seasons scoring a minimum of 32 goals prior to 2024-2025, Pettersson must do a better job of asserting himself five on five and utilizing his creativity as well as getting to more central areas in the offensive zone to unleash his shot, and on the power play the Canucks need to do a better job of moving the puck quickly and creating passing lanes to Pettersson that in turn pull opposing defenders away and provide him with more open lanes to utilize his wicked shot.
Outside of Quinn Hughes, the Canucks are definitely lacking another facilitator like J.T. Miller had been. Pettersson is now surrounded with players who are more adept to shooting and grinding rather than vision and distributing, but regardless of this Pettersson still has arguably the smoothest skating defenceman in the NHL playing over 26 minutes per game with him in Quinn Hughes, who can move the puck to any position on the ice, and the Canucks need to press and exploit these advantages.