Pettersson finally opens up about Vancouver Canucks season struggles
Elias Pettersson stood in front of the media on Tuesday, and the struggling Vancouver Canucks star player faced the music.
The 26-year-old, who has just 35 points in 54 games and hasn’t scored since January 21, was open and took responsibility for his poor run of play. It marked a stark change from previous press conferences, where he’s been much more calculated with his words.
“I’ll just be honest, I haven’t been the way I want to be this year, I haven’t played to expectations I have on myself or the franchise has on me,” said Pettersson.
“I’ll be the first one to tell you, but that’s in the past. I just want to take these last 22 games, plus more, hopefully, and play my best hockey. I wish we had more wins; I wish I had played a lot better, but I can’t dwell on that anymore. I’m just trying to look ahead.”
It was a change of attitude from Pettersson, who hasn’t been the most forthcoming with the media this season. He also walked back a recent comment made after a 2-1 loss in Utah, where he seemingly blamed some of his struggles on dealing with the media.
“My comments [after] the Utah game, I missed the breakaway, I got asked about it and how frustrating this season has been. I was really, really mad at that moment, and I said something I didn’t mean. I said the media is annoying, which it some days can be, but it’s the last thing that’s making me play bad or not like myself this year.”
Pettersson was sharp in practice today, skating on a line with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua. He finished off a few pretty passing plays and set up his linemates for some nice goals.
Head coach Rick Tocchet has also seen a change in Pettersson over the past couple of days. He’s noticing details in the star’s habits that haven’t been there all season.
“I have a really good relationship with Petey. The one thing we’ve talked about is that he has to own it. I’m glad he’s talked about that. There’s nothing he can do [about] the past.”
“There are expectations on him; maybe he didn’t deal well with it, maybe the preparation stuff, but now he can only go forward. I know he’s staying on the ice now early; he’s meeting with coaches more.”
“The last 48 hours or 72 hours, he’s doing stuff that I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s the stuff we need from you.’ The way I look at it, he has a good 22 games for us; we might all forget about the 60 games.”
Despite everything that has gone on this season, the Canucks are still in the playoff race. They’re only outside the playoff picture right now because they’re on the wrong side of a tiebreaker with the Calgary Flames. With more than a quarter of the season left, there’s plenty of time to go on a run and secure a playoff spot.
That means there’s still time for Pettersson to change the narrative of this season and turn his own story from struggling star to season saviour.