Pettersson on Canucks: "We have something good going on now"
Elias Pettersson appears to be loving life with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Swedish superstar who spent a large portion of last season engaged in tense negotiations with the club has revealed how happy he is with his current situation in a new interview.
Pettersson spoke with Jacob Olin from the Sundsvall Tidning where the Canucks star discussed the state of the team, his early days in hockey, and giving back to the community at home. The centre is back in Sweden hosting his first hockey camp for kids.
The quotes, which were originally in Swedish, have been translated into English using Google Translate.
“Life in Vancouver is great, we have something good going on now,” said Pettersson in the article. “We have very good players, good coaches, our new general manager Patrik Allvin, and since president Jim Rutherford came here, the club has been turned upside down for the better.”
“We were close to reaching a conference final last season, but now it’s just a matter of building on.”
It wasn’t that long ago that Pettersson did not seem sold on the vision the Canucks were selling. He refused to sit at the negotiating table for a long time until management applied some pressure, eventually resulting in a massive $92.8 million contract.
The 25-year-old also shared some memories from playing junior hockey in Sweden. He travelled to TimrĂĄ to play for a junior hockey team there.
“There was a lot of commuting, but it became an everyday thing that it took over an hour to practice, so I did my homework in the car,” explained the Swedish star.
“You got used to it – it was worth it, of course.”
When Pettersson eventually made the trip across the pond, it didn’t take him long to get acclimated at the NHL level. He clearly built up confidence quickly, even scoring in his first game.
“I didn’t know how I was going to perform when I got over. I’ve always known I’m a good player but the NHL is the best league,” explained the former fifth-overall pick.
“But especially the first year I felt like damn, I can really do this. It didn’t come as a shock, but it’s the best league in the world, so you have a lot of respect.”
Pettersson won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year after scoring 28 goals and adding 38 assists for 66 points in 71 games.
With his massive contract kicking in this fall, there will be more pressure on Pettersson than ever before. After struggling in the second half of last season, which was influenced by a knee injury, the franchise player will need to be more consistent for the Canucks to jump to another level.
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