The Canucks are convinced, but not entirely, that Elias Pettersson, a.k.a. Petey, can fill the role as the club’s number-one centre.
They’re leaving all of their options open, despite the fact they owe the 26-year-old Swede $11.6-million per season for the next seven. Not exactly the type of contract you’re going to unload, for a player you might be unsure of, and who’s suffered through some injury issues. A trade, if one were to ultimately occur, would likely involved retaining salary.
It’s simply not a good situation and the trade scenario is premature, spurred on by common naivete in the media.
“As we’re sitting here today, I will keep all of my options open,” Canucks GM Patrik Allvin said Monday. “I do believe that the last three years, Elias had one down year, which was this year. And as (Canucks Hockey Op’s President) Jim (Rutherford) alluded to earlier, it’s not about individual points, it’s about playing the right way in order to win, and I think that’s where, our team, again, during the year, chemistry, consistency, moments in the season where we had chances to gain headway in the standings and we didn’t. Part of it is maturity.
“But we still believe Elias is more than capable of coming back as he has shown here in the past in Vancouver,” he continued. “I think this is about him taking his game to the next level.”
Before this last 15-goal, 45-point Canucks campaign, Pettersson finished with 30-plus goals the previous three seasons, 39 of them two seasons ago when he ended with 102 points.
Despite recent doom and gloom from the bi-polar local media, we soon forget that for two weeks following this February’s 4 Nations Face-off tournament, in which Pettersson represented Sweden, he came back and showed signs of renewed vigour after a four-game lull. He posted ten points during an eight-game stretch when the playoffs were still within reach. An injury in New York against the Rangers ended his and the team’s hopes.
Physical strength is an admitted weakness for Petey. Related or not, he’s suffered through knee, wrist, and oblique issues in the not-so-distant past.
“It’s what I need, strength doesn’t come easy for me,” Petey said Friday. “Obviously I was dealing with a knee injury last off-season that stopped my training in summer, so it was hard to truly train at 100-percent last summer. That being said, I’m just trying to look forward and … I’m going to take advantage of this extra month of training to come in and be ready for next season.
“I’ve got great resources here and great resources back in Sweden,” Petey added. “I’m going to stay here and do some extra work before flying home to Sweden.”
Allvin says Pettersson has been at Rogers Arena working out over the holiday weekend.
