All eyes on Elias Pettersson’s summer as Canucks conclude dysfunctional season

Elias Pettersson was like a season-long headache for the Canucks and their coach, who had his highest-paid player in his office numerous times for frank and sometimes emotional discussions about his play.

Apr 19, 2025 - 04:14

All eyes on Elias Pettersson’s summer as Canucks conclude dysfunctional season

VANCOUVER – Before answering the first of many questions about Elias Pettersson on Friday, Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet closed his eyes, raised his hands to his face and briefly massaged his temples.

The gesture was probably nothing, but it looked like everything.

Pettersson was like a season-long headache for the Canucks and their coach, who had his highest-paid player in his office numerous times for frank and sometimes emotional discussions about his play.

Pettersson was not the lone gunman for a bitterly disappointing season in Vancouver. As we’ve said, it wasn’t one thing; it was everything that caused the Canucks to tumble backwards from last year’s 109-point season.

But Pettersson was one of the first things, when he reported to camp last September in disappointing condition he attributed to soreness in his knee that affected summer training.

And the 26-year-old centre’s play, alarmingly poor at the times in Year 1 of a $92.8-million contract, was one of the biggest factors that sunk the Canucks, who were also torpedoed by key injuries, inconsistency and off-ice drama that exhausted everyone within its orbit.

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Pettersson’s story this summer will be just as big as his story during hockey season.

He needs to get stronger, period. He needs to be fitter, hungrier and more focussed if he is to become the player and leader the Canucks are paying him to be. Full stop.

Year-end press conferences like the series the National Hockey League team staged Friday at Rogers Arena with 16 players and one head coach are like an all-you-can-eat buffet for reporters. The dining choices can be overwhelming, and make it hard to settle on one entrée.

But Elias Pettersson was — is — the main course.

He remains THE story as the Canucks head into an off-season that is at least a month longer than they’d hoped after Vancouver missed the playoffs by six points in the Western Conference.

“I think people understand, like, Elias wants to be a great player, right?” Tocchet said. “And we’re here to try to help him to become that great player. I’ve got to be careful what I say. . . because if I say reprogram, you guys take it to a different level. I think he’ll tell you this, that his preparation has to get better. There’s no secret. If you want to be a great player, you have to prepare — almost an obsessive type of preparation.

“And I think he got behind the eight ball early (last fall). Then the expectations come, and then there’s a little bit of struggle with the team, and then he could never gain traction, right? You know me, I’m an honest guy. He’s got to practise better. You have to practise better. Those things he’s learning. Do I think he will do those things? I do, I really do. I think I can bank on him taking this information, going away for four months and make sure that he has a plan. And the plan has to change (from last summer). To be honest, that’s got to change.”

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Pettersson finished the season with just 15 goals and 45 points in 64 games, easily his worst NHL campaign since winning the Calder Trophy in 2019. Two years ago, he had 102 points.

Apart from his lack of leg strength that affected his skating and ability to protect pucks, Pettersson missed six games with an undisclosed injury after Christmas and the final 12 games of the season after sustaining an oblique injury on March 22 in New York.

Pettersson’s conditioning exacerbated tension last fall with teammate J.T. Miller, who was one of the fittest Canucks at camp but was traded in January to solve the dysfunction in the locker room. And it was an issue for Tocchet, who in the first week of the season began periodically mandating extra practice work for Pettersson.

“I’ve talked to him all year about certain stuff,” Tocchet told reporters on Friday. “And I know the next question: ‘Well, how come he hasn’t listened yet?’ I think he has listened to certain parts. I just don’t know. . . I think he’s evolving as a person, as a player, to that stature he wants to be. Hopefully he’s going to evolve even more.

“You know, there’s a lot of expectations on him. There’s a lot of pressure on him. And to deal with pressure . . . you ask the best players in the world and, you know, they prepare every day. I think he’s trying to evolve to that level. Is he there yet? No. Are we here to help him? Absolutely. Is his teammates here to help him? Absolutely. I’m going to be quite frank with you guys, I said, ‘You know, we’ve got to meet at the 50-yard line. I’m here, but I’m not going to go (75 yards) and make you just walk 25 yards. You’ve got to meet us halfway.’ And he knows that, and we’ll see where it goes.”

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General manager Patrik Allvin raised the issue of Pettersson’s “preparation” during a New Year’s interview with Sportsnet.

“I don’t believe that he was aware of just how hard it was going to be,” Allvin told us. “Just because you achieve one thing to get a long-term extension. . . life just gets harder. You haven’t really accomplished anything.”

So, none of the questions reporters had for Pettersson on Friday could have possibly surprised him.

“I think early in the season, maybe I had a kind of a wrong mindset that, yes, I’ve signed a big contract and now I have to do more instead of just being me,” Pettersson said. “And then when points didn’t come, I tend to overthink. I’ve touched on it before: I’m not perfect. I’m trying to be, but yeah, it’s been a lot of adversity this year. But I’m always trying to believe I can grow from it and learn and be better.”

Former Canucks coach Marc Crawford once explained that Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who became Hall-of-Famers and are part of Vancouver’s player-development staff, became great players “when they stopped falling down.” It sounds simplistic, but the Sedins just had to get stronger so they could stay on their feet, protect the puck and make plays.

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“That’s what I need,” Pettersson conceded. “Strength doesn’t come easy for me; I didn’t get the best genetics from the parents. But I know, obviously, I was dealing with a knee injury last off-season that kind of was a little (tough) on my training last summer. It was hard to truly train at 100 per cent last summer. But with that being said, I’m just trying to look forward. It sucks we’re not playing still but. . . I’m going to take this time to take advantage of the extra month of training to come in ready for next season.”

That kind of commitment is easier to promise than fulfill.

Allvin suggested to Sportsnet last week that Pettersson could choose to spend his summer in Vancouver, where the Canucks can support (and supervise) him. And the Swede said Friday that he will start his off-season training here — “stay for a little bit” — before travelling home.

Tocchet said some of Quinn Hughes’ teammates may join him in Michigan at his dad, Jim’s, high-performance camp in August. The Hughes’ added an additional mini-camp last summer due to demand from NHL players. Jim Hughes works as a development coach for agents J.P. Barry and Pat Brisson, whose clients include Pettersson.

Quinn Hughes is believed to have talked to Pettersson about this. They briefly trained together four years ago when both were awaiting new contracts.

There are a lot of people willing to help Elias Pettersson. But he is the one who must drive his improvement. Nobody yet has figured out how to make a horse drink.

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• With only a club option on his contract for next season, Tocchet on whether he wants to return: “Of course you want to be back here, but there’s a process you have to go through, right? You know, all year I haven’t breathed. During the time off, I was at 4 Nations (with Team Canada), you’re trying to get this team to the playoffs, dealing with all that stuff. So I haven’t really thought of myself. I do have to take a breath and… out of respect, both sides, you have to go through the process.”

• Tocchet on the Pettersson-Miller divide: “I know everybody’s looking for a bad guy. I don’t know if there’s a bad guy in the thing. It just didn’t work out. It had to be resolved. . . and that’s what happened (when Miller was traded to the New York Rangers). It’s unfortunate. Would I not want J.T. Miller in my lineup? One hundred per cent. But at that time, it just couldn’t work.”

ICE CHIPS – Concussed on March 15, second-line centre Filip Chytil declared himself “100 per cent” and fully expects to be ready for next season. . . Goalie Thatcher Demko said he hopes to sign an extension this summer rather than go into the final year of his contract without one. . . Goalie Kevin Lankinen said he has been battling a niggling injury, which is why he turned down an offer to play for Finland at the world championships. . . Tocchet decided not to be part of Team Canada’s staff because “I don’t know if I’m going to give them the best version of me, so I think it’s better I just sit on the sidelines.” . . . Winger Conor Garland will be joining Team USA.

And the final word to captain Quinn Hughes: “There were some challenging times, for sure. But I think it just comes down to it that everyone’s got to be better. And we need guys that, you know, elevate their game. And that’s all it comes down to. It’s not about one guy or Millsy or Petey. You’re looking at 82 games, 24 guys on a roster or whatever it is. I think everyone should be held accountable.”