BRING ON THE BEST
Pettersson’s star on the rise
Throughout the game’s history, every young player has experienced the ah-ha moment where they find themselves lined up against their boyhood hero.
For Elias Pettersson, that moment came early in his rookie year, when he skated into the faceoff circle, looked up, and thought, “Wow, that’s Sidney Crosby.”
“I was like, damn,” the Canucks centre says.
A world away, his buddies noticed the same thing.
“Somehow, I won the faceoff, and right after the game, I got four texts from my friends back home,” Pettersson says. “They were like, ‘Holy (cow, or words to that effect). You realize you won a faceoff against Crosby?’ I texted back, ‘Yeah I know. You don’t have to remind me’
“It’s those cool moments you remember. I never thought I’d be here. I’m living my dream.”
Pettersson is in the process of living a lot of people’s dreams in this province. As he continues his riveting journey toward the game’s highest reaches, the awestruck rookie has given way to the star-in-the-making who now measures himself against the league’s best players. Monday night in the Canucks’ 7-2 romp over the Florida Panthers, he didn’t see a lot of Alexander Barkov, the Panthers’ formidable two-way centre, but that will likely change during the Canucks’ upcoming tour of California.
Tonight in L.A., Pettersson figures to get up close and personal with Anze Kopitar. Two nights later it will be Ryan Getzlaf in Anaheim. The next night, Logan Couture in San Jose. That responsibility won’t always fall to Pettersson because Bo Horvat plays a sturdy, trustworthy game of his own.
But every NHL team has that No. 1 centre who will draw a lot of ice time against Pettersson. As it happens, Pettersson is currently tied for 10th in the league in scoring with Crosby and some guy named Ovechkin.
It might be dreaming in Technicolor to think he’ll finish the season in that spot, but we’ve learned this much about Pettersson in his brief time here: You underestimate him at your own peril.
“The best players want to play against the best players,” Canucks head coach Travis Green says. “We’ve had lots of conversations with Petey and (Brock Boeser) the last two years about certain situations, certain matchups. Any skill guy wants to play against the best players.” Just ask Pettersson.
“I know all the top guys on every team and I’m excited to play against them,” he says. “I like to compete against the best guys in the world. That brings out the best in me.”
As mentioned, the slender Swede was freed from the Barkov matchup on Monday and his line, with Boeser and J.T. Miller, exploited the opportunity by toying with an overmatched Panthers trio of Mike Hoffman, Frank Vatrano and Denis Malgin.
The Canucks’ nominal first line produced three goals, including two by Miller, 10 shots on net, and another five that misfired.
Pettersson, for his part, finished with three assists, but it could have been more. He sent Boeser in alone in the first period, was in the middle of another play when Boeser dented the crossbar in the second period, and had four shots on goal.
Late in the first period, he also set up for the lacrosse move behind the Panthers’ net, but was thwarted by an unco-operative pile of snow. He was asked if we’ll see that again this season.
“Yes,” he said, grinning.
Now, lacrosse moves and toedrags are one thing, but Pettersson will draw the top assignments as his career evolves because of his commitment in the defensive end. For everything else he brings to the table — did we mention he and his line’s fancy stats are off the charts this season? — it’s the 200-foot game that might be the most impressive part of the Pettersson package, and that’s not lost on his teammates.
“He’s really good in the defensive zone, very smart and very committed,” says Canucks centre Jay Beagle, who knows something about that side of the game. “You see him blocking shots and laying out to knock a puck away. You don’t really see that from a lot of top-six guys.”
Of course, you don’t have to play a lot of defence when you have the puck, which is the larger part of the line’s success.
“I told him, if we play the right way and take care of the puck in the offensive zone, we don’t have to play too much in the D-zone,” says Miller. “That’s what we’re doing right now.”
Pettersson, meanwhile, knows it’s not always going to come as easily as it did Monday night. There will be games when he comes out second-best against the league’s best players. There will be games when he looks like a still-developing kid playing in the world’s best league. But, as Daniel Sedin once said, you don’t have to win the matchup every night and every play. You just have to win it six times out of 10 for the team to have success, and that’s the challenge in front of Pettersson.
“You want to play against the best players and he wants to be out there against the best,” says Miller.
He’ll get that opportunity. The best part is, we get to watch it.