Sounds like Canucks are hoping Pettersson spends the summer in Vancouver
The Vancouver Canucks are going to do everything possible to make sure Elias Pettersson returns to superstar form.
The 26-year-old is finishing up the most disappointing season of his career. He has just 15 goals and 45 points in 64 games, and those numbers are unlikely to change as he’s currently hurt and doesn’t seem likely to return this season.
Pettersson’s struggles are one of the main reasons the Canucks flamed out this year. If he’s not better next season, the Canucks can virtually cross off any hope of being a true contender.
It sounds like Canucks management is hoping Pettersson spends the offseason in Vancouver to help improve his fitness.
In an interview with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin indicated that Pettersson’s offseason training will be a key part of their exit meetings and that it might be best for the star centre to remain in Vancouver this summer.
That’s not something the Canucks can enforce once the season ends due to the NHL/NHLPA collective bargaining agreement, but it sounds like Allvin hopes Pettersson takes his advice.
“We have the right resources here to help him,” Allvin told MacIntyre. “Listen, he has the ability to dictate the future, and I’m sure he wants to come back to his normal (form) and wants to continue to grow and get better. So we have absolutely the commitment and resources here to help him do that.”
Conditioning was an issue with Pettersson this season as he didn’t arrive in Vancouver as prepared as he needed to be to thrive in the NHL. While it wasn’t the only factor, management clearly believes it was part of the reason for his struggles.
“He didn’t get to that level coming right out of his contract and into training camp, but now he understands that,” explained Jim Rutherford to The Globe and Mail‘s Gary Mason. “With the talent he has and his understanding now of what it takes [to excel], he’ll get that at some point.”
“I don’t know how exactly to explain it, but it’s a nagging injury that doesn’t want to go away easily. We figured out a way to work around it,” he said in Penticton.
Later in the season, his agent, Pat Brisson, expanded on the struggles posed by that frustrating injury and how detrimental they were to Pettersson’s training.
“He had a tough summer; he couldn’t train at the level he wanted to due to an injury. He is a better player and a proud player and still young and [has] lots to offer,” said Brisson on Donnie & Dhali.
At the 4 Nations in February, Pettersson was asked if perhaps the injury had affected his summer more than he’d realized, and he agreed with that conclusion.
“Yeah, maybe,” he admitted. “But then also that’s in the past. [I’m] trying to not let the past affect me and how I’m doing and feeling today. I’m just trying to look ahead.”
Pettersson has the final say on where he spends his summer. In the past, he’s gone home to Sweden, but after this year’s rollercoaster, that might change.