Pressure is on Canucks to win and convince Pettersson to sign long term

Elias Pettersson didn’t say that he wouldn’t re-sign with the Vancouver Canucks. He didn’t even say he would refuse to ink a long-term deal.

But he did give Canucks fans, and perhaps even Canucks management, some reason to be concerned.

The 24-year-old star is coming off a career-best 102-point season and is the face of the franchise. He was named an assistant captain last season and could be wearing the C on his chest come October.

In short, he’s a player the Canucks should want to sign long-term.

But it takes two to tango, and it doesn’t appear that Pettersson’s camp is ready to dance. At least not yet.

“I’m not in a rush to sign. I got one more year there, and I don’t want to rush into anything,” Pettersson told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

“I still don’t know myself if it’s going to be short-term or long-term. It’s gonna be probably my biggest contract so far, and so I don’t want to stress anything,” Pettersson added. “All summer, I’m just trying to prepare myself as much as possible with training, trying to gain a little bit of weight, some muscles, and yeah, especially get off to a good start with a team.”

There’s something to be said about waiting. The NHL’s salary cap is expected to rise, but teams won’t find out by how much until next year. Pettersson could have another big year, further boosting his value and allowing him to really cash in.

But many players don’t opt to wait. They take the guaranteed money.

Pettersson will still be under team control after his contract expires next summer, at which point he’ll be one year away from unrestricted free agency. That’s the same position Matthew Tkachuk was in with the Flames last year when he forced his way out of Calgary.

Pettersson has given no indication that he’ll follow Tkachuk’s path, and the Canucks centre’s agent is certainly saying all the right things.

The concern for the Canucks would be if Pettersson is waiting not merely for monetary reasons. The Canucks have done a lot of losing since Pettersson entered the league five years ago, making the playoffs just once when postseason games were played in a pandemic bubble in Edmonton.

The past three years in particular have been mentally draining for everyone involved with the organization. The team finished dead last in the all-Canadian division in 2020-21 and had the worst COVID outbreak in North American pro sports. Pettersson missed the COVID outbreak because he was out with a wrist injury, which appeared to hinder him well into 2021-22.

In the summer of 2021, the Canucks didn’t have enough money to sign both Pettersson and Quinn Hughes to long-term deals. Hughes signed a six-year deal, while Pettersson signed just a three-year extension.

The past two seasons have seen the Canucks fall out of playoff contention by December, if not sooner. The Canucks were booed off the ice, with fans throwing jerseys on the ice in disgust after the home opener last year.

The Canucks believe they’re an improved team, and with a full season with Rick Tocchet behind the bench, perhaps they could host playoff games at Rogers Arena for the first time since 2015. But what if they don’t?

What if this season goes off the rails like the previous three?

It would be natural for Pettersson to wonder the same things. Why sign long-term with an organization that hasn’t shown an ability to put a winner on the ice?

“I want to stay there now, but I also want to play for a team that’s winning and has the chance to go far into the playoffs every year,” Pettersson told a Swedish news outlet in 2021, prior to signing this current three-year contract. “If we have that chance when my next deal expires… I don’t know. I just want to play where there’s a chance of winning.”

Just where Pettersson’s head is at remains to be seen. But winning should help.

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