Did Canucks' Elias Pettersson get really good at faceoffs all of a sudden?
Elias Pettersson has been exceptional in many areas during his five seasons with the Vancouver Canucks.
He can skate, he can shoot, he can pass, and certainly, he can pile up points. He’s excellent on the power play, the penalty kill, and the shootout. He’s great defensively too.
But he’s been terrible in the faceoff dot.
Until now?
It’s the smallest of sample sizes, but Pettersson had a tremendous night winning faceoffs during Wednesday night’s preseason game in Edmonton.
The NHL game sheet had Pettersson winning 80% of his faceoffs, though they did make an error on one, crediting the Canucks centre with winning the opening draw of the game against Connor McDavid. McDavid did in fact win that one clean.
But the game sheet got everything else right (I checked), meaning that Pettersson won 11 of 15 faceoffs for a still-great 73.3% success rate.
This is particularly impressive when you consider who Pettersson was winning draws against. He was 1-for-2 against McDavid, 3-for-4 against Leon Draisaitl, 4-for-5 against Derek Ryan, 2-for-3 against Brandon Sutter, and 1-for-1 against Mattias Janmark.
Pettersson won many of his draws clean, too, including an important overtime draw against Draisaitl.
Pettersson won 11 of 15 faceoffs last night (the NHL made a mistake on the opening faceoff against McDavid).
Still an outstanding night for the #Canucks centre in the faceoff dot. Here's Pettersson beating Draisaitl on an important OT draw. pic.twitter.com/LSds4pV7pg
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) September 28, 2023
Draisaitl (54.9%), McDavid (51.9%), and Ryan (50%) were all above 50% in faceoffs last season, while Sutter won 52.5% of his draws during his time with the Canucks.
Pettersson won just 44.3% of his faceoffs last season and is 43.3% in his career.
Time will tell if this is merely a statistical anomaly or an improvement in the 24-year-old’s game. But Pettersson is another year older and has been getting stronger.
If Pettersson is indeed leaps and bounds better than before, it will open up options for head coach Rick Tocchet. No longer would Pettersson need to be paired with another centre on shorthanded faceoffs. The Canucks coach wouldn’t feel the need to throw another centre on the ice for a critical defensive zone draw if Pettersson can now be trusted to win it.
And certainly, it’s good news whenever Pettersson’s line can start with the puck on their stick.
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