In times of hardship like the Vancouver Canucks are currently facing, teams will often make a panic move. One panic move the team can under no circumstances afford is to trade Elias Pettersson. The 26 year old Swedish forward is among the league’s elite, despite his current season statistics not reflecting this, which has gotten his name onto the chopping block in recent weeks. Currently sitting at 11 goals and 19 assists through 42 games, his struggle has been under major scrutiny league wide. Vancouver, coming off winning their division last season in part thanks to an 89 point season from the star center, have struggled immensely to find their groove up to this point in the season. Rumours swirling around the team, injury troubles and locker room rifts have led to a tense situation for players and fans alike. Typically in these instances you shakeup the core, and I am here to say that Elias Pettersson is not the one needing to be moved.
Pettersson, drafted by the Canucks fifth overall in the 2017 entry draft has been the face of a franchise that hadn’t seen the light of day prior to last year’s success. Thus far in his career Pettersson has a career statline of 181 goals and 261 assists for 442 points in 449 games played sitting at almost a point per game. The Swedish phenom has been among the league’s best since arriving in the league in the 2018/19 season. He has one of the best two way impacts of forwards in the league and plays a pivotal role on both the powerplay and penalty kill for Vancouver. Pettersson also has the most points of a Canucks player since 2019 when their current core was formed. Not to mention he’s a fan favourite in the city.
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Finding an elite let alone potentially generational center is few and far between and it’s the cornerstone of all successful franchises. Pettersson has shown time and time again that he is that guy for this Vancouver team, even in their lowest of lows he’s been a net positive for the team never having a season below a plus/minus of zero. He’s puck dominant and is shown to be able to drive play no matter the linemates given to him. In 2023 he turned current two goal scorer Andrei Kuzmenko into a 39 goal scoring machine along with fellow russian linemate Ilya Mikhayev into one of the better finishers on the Canucks’s roster. Since being removed from Pettersson’s wing both players have seen less than half the success they had playing alongside the Swede.
Pettersson is a lethal weapon on Vancouver’s top powerplay unit. Watching him play the right flank of the powerplay is magical the way he releases the shot puck and is considered one of the best shooters in the league. The one time option he provides is similar to Ovechkin on the flank, where a one timer from him is bound for the back of the net more than likely if he gets it with space to fire. He’s one of very few players across the NHL that has the capability of beating a set NHL goaltender and is not something the team would easily replace. The quickness of his release coupled with how little space he needs to get a shot off makes it left almost entirely up to chance on if the goalie can make the save. Some of his criticism this year has been that he hasn’t let that wicked release run wild enough and sometimes plays with too much of a pass first mentality. He’s shooting at 14 percent clip this season which is the lowest of his career, which is far better than your average player.
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As alluded to previously Pettersson is a puck dominant player and with his ability has historically entered the opposing zone with ease. The average success rate of a controlled zone entry in the NHL is just above 22 percent. Elias Pettersson since 2022 has a controlled zone entry success rate of almost 50 percent. If you have a player that can successfully enter the opponents zone with possession almost half the time, that is an extremely valuable asset. Puck possession in the offensive zone is created about half the time from offensive zone draws. Having players that can get you offensive pressure without a whistle is more than valuable and something that EP40 does more than efficiently.
His play-driving and two way impact is that of the elite. With a career off-ice goals expected percentage of nearing 45 percent, the team is shown to have far less success in the offensive zone when Petey is off the ice. Comparatively he has a career 37.5 (not as a percentage) goals expected on-ice in his career. The center sits well above the three points per 60 minute mark proving he’s among the league’s best at getting results. Finding a center at his age that can offensively provide all of this while also delivering phenomenal defensive results is near unheard of.
Now with all of this being said, why trade him?
The reported locker room rift between him and fellow forward JT Miller has gotten to a point of no return. Because of this it now seems apparent that one of the two will have to be dealt for the greater good of the locker room. What started as a squabble in practice has spiraled into what feels like a civil war. Though it may go further back than this as it’s not the first time a division between the two has been suggested. If one of the two must go, it’s crucial for the Canucks to make the correct choice as it could leave residual effects on the club for years to come. The idea of Pettersson being the one on his way out comes from the belief that he may be able to garner more for the team on the trade market. This is due to his age as well as two will ability, he’s a much more appealing trade option as opposed to Miller. Pettersson also has been in almost a year-long slump even though he’s still finding ways to contribute defensively.
With Pettersson’s career history and his ability to time and time again prove that he is an elite center in this league, all chips should be placed on him from Canucks management. The kind of play that Pettersson brings will be near impossible to replace and trading him away would likely haunt the franchise for years to come. As the deadline approaches trade talks around both centers will heat up and it’s a crucial time for the franchise to make the right decisions and put their trust in who has time and time again proved to be their go to guy, Elias Pettersson.