Lean, quick Pettersson should be worth the wait for Canucks’ fans
It took less than 24 hours after Elias Pettersson was drafted for him to show the Vancouver Canucks he is so much more than the dangle.
Damn, though, that dangle is fine.
But it’s just a starting point in his story. Those closest to Pettersson talk about a 19-year-old who is consumed with being great, determined not to lean on his skill, but to hone it. They talk of a player who spent a season at the centre of Sweden’s hockey universe, the best player on his country’s best team, someone who set records under a searing spotlight while being a trending topic on a country ’s social media sites.
And, they talk about a player who does things like this:
“I’ll never forget it, we drafted him on the Friday and on the Saturday he came back down to our table,” Canucks president Trevor Linden said. “That is rare in itself. He then asked us about every single player we drafted, wanting to know all about them.
“Then Sunday he flies out to Vancouver. I was in the office early Monday morning. He shows up there in his gym clothes already and says ‘Hey, I need to work out.’ He’s a driven and committed kid and that is going to serve him well.”
When Pettersson arrives in Vancouver for good remains guesswork. The Canucks have expressed confidence he’ll sign this off-season and be here for training camp. In fact, one insider’s report suggested this news is imminent.
But after his season ended with a broken thumb in the world junior championship, a tournament during which he improved every game and in a game he was arguably the best player, people close to him are adamant he hasn’t made up his mind.
If he needs time, it’s understandable. He had just finished an incredible season but one that took a toll mentally and physically. Almost overnight, Pettersson went from a high NHL draft pick with upside to a Swedish hockey rock star.
Because of his historic performance, he has set the bar achingly high to start his NHL career. He isn’t just viewed as a top prospect in Vancouver anymore. He’s now seen as a saviour.
“At the draft, you have to predict how the game is being played tomorrow because these guys aren’t playing today,” said Vancouver scout Thomas Gradin. “The game has been very Europeanized, if you know what I mean. They are promoting skating and puck skills and creativeness at the lower levels. It’s happening a little later in the NHL because there are still some old-time guys playing. But the new generation coming are not like them. They are quick, fast and very creative and spontaneous and instinctual in their decision making. That’s the kind of player Elias is.”
Gradin said he was telling people a year ago Pettersson was the type of player who could lead Sweden’s elite league in points. Asked if everyone in the organization believed this, he said: “No.”
But they would come around, eventually.
As legend has it, at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft an executive from an unspecified team was overheard saying: “If Elias Pettersson weighed 20 more pounds he would have gone first overall.”
It’s a ridiculous sentiment that you would expect to hear from one of the game’s dinosaurs. Patrick Kane went first overall in 2007 weighing 160 pounds. He seems to have worked out OK.
Part of what makes Pettersson so special is his explosive quickness, and if he were 20 more pounds at age 18, he would not have been faster. That’s not to say his weight, which was 165 pounds, didn’t come up for the Canucks.
“We do still talk about size, but there’s less hesitation because you’re seeing many undersized guys have success,” said Judd Brackett, the Canucks’ director of amateur scouting. “It is still relevant, but guys are finding ways to play regardless of size.
“But we didn’t talk about him in a ‘is he going to play or not?’ sort of way. We discussed it in terms of what it meant for his timeline of development.
“We asked: ‘Are there guys in this draft who are going to arrive in the NHL sooner?’ and ‘Does it matter to us?’
“Honestly, last year when we sat there as a group, we talked about being in a spot where we need to take the best player regardless of whether he’s here in two years, three years or four years. We needed to hone in on the player we want, the skill set and what we can build with and not worry about who is going to be here first.”
In the weeks leading up to the Pettersson draft it was widely believed, and reported, one of the players the Canucks were considering at No. 5 was Cody Glass.
Linden didn’t get into specifics about names, but did acknowledge there was a robust deliberation within the organization about who the pick should be after the draft lottery slotted the Canucks in at No. 5 overall.
“We had some interesting debates, but the conviction (the scouts) showed, they fought hard,” Linden said. “It was a good, healthy debate as there should be, no question.
“But at the end of the day, our guys led by Judd, and the guys who had seen him the most, were adamant that he be our guy.”
Brackett said the pick was based on two years of work.
“We watched him for two years. We interviewed him. We talked to
his coaches. We talked to players who played with him and against him. Everything came back positive,” Brackett said. “Then we had guys in the office who gave us support from the analytical side.
“For us, it was a whole package and a real group effort. We felt really good about him.”
When Pettersson’s season ended, he weighed 172 pounds. It’s five more pounds than he weighed in December and seven more than at the draft.
It is important to Pettersson and the Canucks that he gets stronger this summer, but no one around him is advising significant weight gain.
“Look at other players around the league like Patrick Kane, Mitch Marner and Clayton Keller; there are a lot of guys playing in (the 170-pound range),” Linden said.
“(Petersson) played in a men’s league this year. It’s fast. It’s physical. Players are big. He finds ways to win puck battles. The (weight) gets overblown. We are not focused on bulking him up. He’s going to be strong. He’s going to be quick.”
Yes, the expectations in Vancouver are high for Pettersson. But they should be. He’s earned those expectations.
“The sky is the limit for him,” Brackett said. “What a great kid he is.”