ESPN projects Canucks star Pettersson to finish third in NHL scoring
Canucks fans already know how good Elias Pettersson is, and it now appears that people outside of Vancouver are taking notice too.
The “Worldwide Leader in Sports” is, anyway.
ESPN has released its individual player point projections for the 2023-24 season, and Pettersson is ranked very favourably. The American sports broadcasting giant is predicting that the 24-year-old will set career highs in goals (45), assists (71), and points (116), good enough to place him third overall in NHL scoring.
J.T. Miller is projected to score 81 points, according to ESPN, followed by Andrei Kuzmenko (75 points) and Quinn Hughes (67 points). Thatcher Demko is projected to post a .910 save percentage.
Pettersson finished 10th in NHL scoring after a career-best 102-point year last season.
The only players ranked ahead of Pettersson by ESPN are a pair of Edmonton Oilers superstars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
ESPN
A 116-point season could have huge implications in more ways than one. For starters, a career year from Pettersson, who scored 39 goals and 63 assists last season, could help put the Canucks in the playoffs for the first time in four years.
And if that happens? Well, we could well be looking at a Hart Trophy nomination for Pettersson. Just four players in Canucks history have done that before: Markus Naslund (2003), Roberto Luongo (2007), Henrik Sedin (2010), and Daniel Sedin (2011).
Pettersson is in a contract year and has said that he prefers to begin negotiating an extension after the 2023-24 season. Certainly, a season like that would make him more costly to re-sign.
Auston Matthews is set to become the NHL’s highest-paid player in 2024-25 by average annual salary at $13.25 million. The Toronto Maple Leafs star is followed by Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million), McDavid ($12.5 million), Artemi Panarin ($11.6 million), and Erik Karlsson ($11.5 million).
How much will Pettersson make?