Canucks had concerns about Pettersson’s commitment before 2021 contract: report
It was a contract that raised eyebrows at the time.
The story of the Vancouver Canucks 2021 offseason was that former GM Jim Benning entered training camp without contracts for his two star players, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
Benning did eventually sign both players on Oct. 1, 2021. While Quinn Hughes got a six-year deal worth $7.85 million per season, the Canucks only signed Pettersson for three years at $7.35 million per year.
The move was somewhat puzzling considering that Pettersson was one of the game’s brightest and most productive young stars. During that same offseason, other dynamite young forwards signed long-term, like Brayden Point (eight years, $9.25 million average annual value), Andrei Svechnikov (eight years, $7.75 million AAV) and Kirill Kaprizov (five years, $9 million AAV).
But perhaps now, we know why Pettersson was only signed to a bridge deal.
Canucks reporter Harman Dayal recently posted a video diving deep into the downfall of Pettersson. In that video, he revealed one nugget of information that might have explained the Canucks’ thought process at the time.
Dayal reported that, back in November of 2021, he was chatting with a high-ranking Canucks executive, just one month after Pettersson signed his extension.
“This Canucks executive told me that one of the reasons they went shorter on Petey is because they had some reservations about his commitment and personality type,” Dayal said.
“I’ll be honest, at the time, I didn’t take that seriously.”
Of course he didn’t.
Elias Pettersson was on a superstar path after signing a bridge deal in 2021. (Bob Frid/USA TODAY Sports)
At that point, Pettersson was a beacon of light in the Canucks organization. There were the 10 goals he scored in his first 10 career games. The Calder Trophy win. The promising performance in the 2020 NHL bubble playoffs.
Through almost the entire duration of his three-year deal, Pettersson looked like a steal. During that time, Pettersson ranked 17th overall in league scoring, highlighted by a 102-point season in 2022-23.
From there, Canucks fans know the rest.
It’s been a precipitous fall from grace for the Canucks highest-paid player. Injuries have played into it, such as his knee tendonitis in 2024, followed by Pettersson saying he wasn’t fully healthy last year. However, the 27-year-old has been called out by both Canucks coaches and management for needing to practice and prepare better.
While Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford believed in Pettersson enough to sign him for eight years back in 2024, the executive that Dayal talked to back in 2021 perhaps knew something the recently exiled Canucks management team didn’t.
That, or the previous regime chose to look past those red flags.
Either way, Pettersson has now gone from a star to having one of the worst contracts in the NHL.