Move to wing helping Pettersson get his swagger back for Canucks
Nobody saw any of this coming.
Fans and media were full of ideas last summer, coming up with their own line combinations for what the Vancouver Canucks could roll out this season.
Not one, to my knowledge, included Elias Pettersson playing regularly on the wing.
But that’s where the Canucks’ former No. 1 centre has been lining up lately. Pettersson has played at left wing, on Bo Horvat’s line, for each of the past three games against Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Washington.
And guess what? It’s working.
He scored twice and had four shots on goal during the Canucks’ 4-2 win in Washington on Sunday, which was the culmination of some improved play for Pettersson.
By being put on the wing, Pettersson is being put into a position to succeed by head coach Bruce Boudreau. It relieves the pressure of the two-way responsibility that comes with being a centre, yet allows Pettersson to play with the team’s best offensive players.
Pettersson had his first multi-goal game this season against the Capitals, but there were signs of him breaking out of his slump before he ripped home a power play goal in the second period.
Elias Pettersson looking like.. old Elias Pettersson pic.twitter.com/CVDrXBKuud
— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) January 16, 2022
By Boudreau’s admission, Pettersson has been putting in the work in practice, and it’s showing up in the games as well.
He hit the post on Saturday, but more than that, Pettersson hasn’t been afraid to go to the dirty areas. He’s been screening goalies, he’s been taking the puck to the net.
While Pettersson’s second goal came on a bank shot from behind the net, pay attention to where he was before retrieving the puck.
Elias Pettersson with a two-goal game? In this economy??? pic.twitter.com/XjNaZvqpwN
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) January 16, 2022
“He was getting chances off the left wing. I think things are easier. He sees the ice better. He’s always the first man on the puck in the other team’s zone instead of the last man as most centres are because they’re fighting down low,” said Boudreau.
What you won’t see in the highlights from Sunday is that Pettersson drew the penalty that he scored his first goal on. It came late in the first period, on an otherwise innocent play. But Pettersson’s determination to pressure the Capitals defenceman, keeping his feet moving in the process, caused Nic Dowd to take an interference penalty with nine seconds left in the period.
“You could see it happening. When you start getting chances, and he hit the post last game, and he had a couple breakaways the game before. It was inevitable that he was going to score at some point.”
Pettersson knows as well as anybody that his production this season hasn’t been good enough. He has just 19 points in 38 games, and had gone six games with no goals and just one assist.
A great work ethic and will to win doesn’t mean much for a $7.35 million player unless goals and assists follow at some point. But Pettersson is showing signs that the old Petey still lives inside of him.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way… I know what I’m capable of. Of course it’s been a very slow start for me,” said Pettersson, who bristled at one question about his struggles.
Who knows, if media were allowed in the dressing room right now, maybe we’d see his patented death stare return. And that would be a welcome sight for Canucks fans — whatever it takes for Pettersson to get his swagger back.
The old Petey has been gone for far too long.
“He was rookie of the year because of his moxie and his intelligence,” Boudreau added.
“He’s a confident player, but it’s not easy to keep your confidence when every day media wants to talk about you. You’re seeing it on TV, you’re hearing about it on the streets. When you’re a really good offensive player like Petey is, you think about it almost all the time. So to stay with it, to keep going at it is a tough thing.”
If the Canucks have designs on challenging for a playoff spot, Pettersson will need to regain his form in the second half of the season — that’s obvious.
“We don’t have a lot of natural scorers on our team. Him scoring, or starting to score, hopefully it’s not an anomaly or a one-off and he can continue to do this. That’ll make it an awful lot easier on us.”
But looking through a wider lens, it’ll be reassuring to the Canucks and their fans to see that the player everyone thought they had still exists. If playing on the wing helps Pettersson regain his confidence and find the scoresheet more regularly, that’s a positive sign in the short term. But eventually, that first-line centre full of talent and oozing with confidence will need to return — and I think he will.
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