Confirmed with Link: Pettersson Signs 8 Year Deal with the Vancouver Canucks, AAV $11.6M

[Bleach Clean]

No one else in the league is expected to do what he is expected to do with literally AHLers and healthy scratches

"He should elevate his linemates!!!"

He has a guy who has scored one goal in the entire calendar year and it's mid May on one side, and a guy who was just healthy scratched on the other.

In order to "elevate" his linemates he has to rent an excavator and tunnel underground first. I'd like him to be better, sure, but no other star player in the league has to deal with anything close to this.

While this is all true (and I agree), it doesn't explain Pettersson making neutral zone and dzone mistakes. Not only is he not contributing offensively, he's starting to hurt the team defensively... and that's just unacceptable. At base, you need Game 1 Pettersson back. There, he was doing everything but scoring.

Mikheyev and Karlsson, despite the lack of skill, are creating a possession differential. Pettersson needs to join in that and consistently push play up ice. He does that enough, and a random event will lead to a goal. It's about possession and volume now. Not about the perfect play or skilled help.

Pettersson has to step up, in one form or another. This is it.

 

[MS]

Pettersson's linemates aren't causing him to not move his feet and compete or try to make plays and attack defenders.

And he gets consistent PP1 minutes and is bad there and the Lotto Line gets put together pretty regularly and he's bad with them and they gave him Boeser and Hoglander as linemates for a stretch to end the season and he was bad with them too.

It's such a cop-out. JT Miller still looked fantastic playing with Phil Di Giuseppe.

 

[Nucker101]

I've been a Petey apologist, at this point the only cope I have left is hoping he's playing with an injury or multiple injuries that are limiting his play offensively.

If not then he's clearly a bit of a headcase and should go the MacKinnon route and hire a personal sports psychologist

 

[nowhereman]

Hank had Burrs even when Daniel was down. I don’t think we have seen any stars other than Mario play with scrubs and expect to dominate.

Crosby, OV, Malkin, and Datsyuk have all recently dominated with bottom of the line-up players. Mind you, comparing anyone to the likes of Crosby or OV is not really a fair comparison. However, when you watched a guy like Crosby put up 120 points with Colby Armstrong and Nils Ekman, it was obvious he didn't have the help he needed but he still looked like an absolute force every time he touched the ice and it was obvious his linemates weren't converting on all of the plays they should. Pettersson isn't passing the eye test here and his linemates are a factor but not the factor in why he is playing so poorly. Quite frankly, the linemates excuse is a pretty poor one at best.

I really do hope he has an injury (that will heal longterm) because this level of play from him is incredibly concerning. I can't remember the last time a star player has fallen off a cliff like this and looked so disengaged. If the Canucks end up losing later down the road, in the Conference Finals or Finals, and everyone else on the team is contributing except Pettersson – he will not hear the end of it.

 

[arttk]

Crosby, OV, Malkin, and Datsyuk have all recently dominated with bottom of the line-up players. Mind you, comparing anyone to the likes of Crosby or OV is not really a fair comparison. However, when you watched a guy like Crosby put up 120 points with Colby Armstrong and Nils Ekman, it was obvious he didn't have the help he needed but he still looked like an absolute force every time he touched the ice and it was obvious his linemates weren't converting on all of the plays they should. Pettersson isn't passing the eye test here and his linemates are a factor but not the factor in why he is playing so poorly. Quite frankly, the linemates excuse is a pretty poor one at best.

I really do hope he has an injury (that will heal longterm) because this level of play from him is incredibly concerning. I can't remember the last time a star player has fallen off a cliff like this and looked so disengaged. If the Canucks end up losing later down the road, in the Conference Finals or Finals, and everyone else on the team is contributing except Pettersson – he will not hear the end of it.

OV played with Backstrom for almost his whole career minus this year.
Malkin and Crosby played with 30/40 goal scorers throughout their career.
Datsyuk played with Zetterberg..

 

[kanucks25]

I really, really hope this guy is seriously injured because his effort level has been simply pathetic way too often in the playoffs.

The linemate excuse is a valid - though only partial - excuse 5-on-5 but it doesn't do anything to explain his embarrassing play on most powerplays.

Getting extremely frustrating watching him.

 

[nowhereman]

OV played with Backstrom for almost his whole career minus this year.
Malkin and Crosby played with 30/40 goal scorers throughout their career.
Datsyuk played with Zetterberg..

Ovechkin scored 52 goals playing with Brooks Laich and Dainius Zubrus, Crosby won a Hart/Pearson/Art Ross with Nils Ekman and Colby Armstrong, Malkin won an Art Ross and Smythe with Ruslan Fedetenko and Maxime Talbot, and Datsyuk had Justin Abdelkader stapled to him. Regardless of the fact that all of these players also played with other top players during the course of their careers, they all put up elite numbers playing without much support.

 

[Slapshot_11]

Sign lindholm for 4-5M cheaper then trade this bum to help fill out holes

 

[SillyRabbit]

I really, really hope this guy is seriously injured because his effort level has been simply pathetic way too often in the playoffs.

The linemate excuse is a valid - though only partial - excuse 5-on-5 but it doesn't do anything to explain his embarrassing play on most powerplays.

Getting extremely frustrating watching him.

I was making all kinds of excuses for him earlier in the season, I truly did believe he was injured.

Not anymore.

He's played every single game this season. If a player is injured, they will take advantage of any time off they can get.

Rick Tocchet is a straight shooter, he's the type to say if someone is hurt.

6 days ago: Canucks vs. Oilers: Rick Tocchet insists Elias Pettersson isn't injured

The team isn’t using illness to cover for another injury to Pettersson, he said.

“We don’t lie here,” he said, with emphasis.

Unprompted, Tocchet said he’s aware that there’s been speculation about whether Pettersson is carrying some sort of injury, perhaps to his back or his wrist. But he moved to quash that speculation.

“He’s just a little sick,” he said.

Pettersson, for his part, said he’s feeling fine.

 

[SillyRabbit]

And now that we've established that he's not injured...

Saying that Pettersson has been a complete disappointment would be a massive understatement.

Spare me the "yeah but he had a great shift!" "he had three shot attempts!" "he won a key faceoff!"

None of that is remotely close to being good enough. His job is to produce offensively at an elite level.

Elias Pettersson has four points these playoffs.

Four.

He's tied for 7th in team scoring with Carson Soucy.

Ian Cole, Nils Hoglander, Tyler Myers and Teddy Blueger all have the same amount of points as Pettersson does in the Edmonton series.

Lindholm had more goals in Game 3 than Pettersson does in the entire playoffs.

But, but but, his linemates!

He has two goals in his last 23 games.

You know who else has two goals in his last 23 games? Sam Lafferty.

You know who else has two goals in his last 23 games? Phill Di Giuseppe.

Do those guys have better linemates than Pettersson?

How many minutes do those guys play on the #1 PP unit with JT Miller, Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser?

There's quite literally no more excuses left for this guy.

He's been absolutely bailed out by the fact that JT Miller is the true #1C of this team and carries the load both offensively and defensively.

Remember when Pettersson was supposed to be an “elite defensive forward?” Why isn’t he tasked with matching up with McDavid?

He’s not even tasked with matching up with Draisaitl.

They gave him the matchup against Ryan McLeod hoping he could take advantage of the mismatch and create something 5-on-5. Of course he's done no such thing.

Imagine being JT Miller and being the “everything” #1C for this team while Pettersson contributes absolutely nothing? While making way more money than you?

Whatever criticism Pettersson has received, he deserves way more.

I legitimately haven’t seen a star player regress this hard since Jonathan Huberdeau.

We're stuck with him for 8 more years, so I sure hope he figures it out.

But he's let this team down so far in these playoffs. Which is a real shame considering it's our best shot at a deep run in 13 long years.

 

[Grumbler]

Guy is looking much worse than John Tavares right now.

 

[timw33]

We have not established that he’s not injured. It's the playoffs, they aren’t going to disclose anything the same way Draisaitl is having “cramps”

 

[nowhereman]

And now that we've established that he's not injured...

Saying that Pettersson has been a complete disappointment would be a massive understatement.

Spare me the "yeah but he had a great shift!" "he had three shot attempts!" "he won a key faceoff!"

None of that is remotely close to being good enough. His job is to produce offensively at an elite level.

Elias Pettersson has four points these playoffs.

Four.

He's tied for 7th in team scoring with Carson Soucy.

Ian Cole, Nils Hoglander, Tyler Myers and Teddy Blueger all have the same amount of points as Pettersson does in the Edmonton series.

Lindholm had more goals in Game 3 than Pettersson does in the entire playoffs.

But, but but, his linemates!

He has two goals in his last 23 games.

You know who else has two goals in his last 23 games? Sam Lafferty.

You know who else has two goals in his last 23 games? Phill Di Giuseppe.

Do those guys have better linemates than Pettersson?

How many minutes do those guys play on the #1 PP unit with JT Miller, Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser?

There's quite literally no more excuses left for this guy.

He's been absolutely bailed out by the fact that JT Miller is the true #1C of this team and carries the load both offensively and defensively.

Remember when Pettersson was supposed to be an “elite defensive forward?” Why isn’t he tasked with matching up with McDavid?

He’s not even tasked with matching up with Draisaitl.

They gave him the matchup against Ryan McLeod hoping he could take advantage of the mismatch and create something 5-on-5. Of course he's done no such thing.

Imagine being JT Miller and being the “everything” #1C for this team while Pettersson contributes absolutely nothing? While making way more money than you?

Whatever criticism Pettersson has received, he deserves way more.

I legitimately haven’t seen a star player regress this hard since Jonathan Huberdeau.

We're stuck with him for 8 more years, so I sure hope he figures it out.

But he's let this team down so far in these playoffs. Which is a real shame considering it's our best shot at a deep run in 13 long years.

Yeah, I feel like the last 10 minutes of this game (and Tocchet's last few pressers) pretty much settled this issue. He got off a few really good shots, engaged in battles, won a key faceoff and had flashes where he looked dangerous. But if he is as badly injured as many of his defenders would have you believe, how did he pull all of that off?

At this point, people need to park the excuses. Tocchet said he didn't have any injuries and even called him out today as needing to "step up", most likely including Pettersson in the group of 5-7 "passengers" who "don't know that this is the playoffs".

This is really worrisome. It wouldn't have me as worried if it hadn't already happened in the past. He has had previous stretches where he has looked disinterested and checked out, for whatever reason, and here we are again. He's been defended stubbornly at every turn "Oh, he's injured... he's over-thinking things... his linemates suck... he's trying to get Benning fired... etc."

Time to just accept that this is on him and only he can pull himself out of it. I desperately hope he does.

We have not established that he’s not injured. It's the playoffs, they aren’t going to disclose anything the same way Draisaitl is having “cramps”

Draisaitl's "cramps" haven't stopped him from being the best player in this series.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Pettersson was going in the final period. The few shifts he got with Suter and Boeser, he was right on the edge of it.

You just can't put him with Lafferty and Mikheyev. It doesn't work. Put Hoglander back on his wing.

Or if Miller isn't going early in game 5, move him up with Suter and Boeser.

 

[arttk]

Ovechkin scored 52 goals playing with Brooks Laich and Dainius Zubrus, Crosby won a Hart/Pearson/Art Ross with Nils Ekman and Colby Armstrong, Malkin won an Art Ross and Smythe with Ruslan Fedetenko and Maxime Talbot, and Datsyuk had Justin Abdelkader stapled to him. Regardless of the fact that all of these players also played with other top players during the course of their careers, they all put up elite numbers playing without much support.

Ov’s rookie season will probably never be matched, so you want to compare Petey to OV who is like the 2nd best goal scorer since Gretzky?
Crosby won his hart with Kunitz on his line which is essentially his Burrows and he’s another generation player but I don’t think he has played with players who is slumping as hard as Mik and Hog or literal AHL players. Also it helps that Crosby and Malkin play together on the PP.

Yes you can staple a crap player with Datsyuk when you have Zetterberg as well.

Yes Petey is struggling with absolute plugs right now and even this last game we seem the moment he is mixed with like anyone else really he starts to create chances. Also doesn’t help that our PP is struggling and that’s mostly coaching.

 

[Cancuks]

He needs better linemates because he can't drive play on his own. I'll bet management is kicking themselves for signing him before the playoffs. Could have gotten him for $2-2.5 million less after his end of season and playoffs no show.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Pettersson felt like he was so close to being in that McDavid/MacKinnon/Kucherov tier last season.

He couldn't be further away now if he was playing a different sport.

 

[arttk]

He needs better linemates because he can't drive play on his own. I'll bet management is kicking themselves for signing him before the playoffs. Could have gotten him for $2-2.5 million less after his end of season and playoffs no show.

There is limitations on driving play. Mik is a literal offensive black hole right now that can’t even score on empty nets and Karlsson is well too slow in the regular season never mind the playoffs. Like I said before, Mik and Karlsson aren’t getting Petey the pick, are not in position to receive the puck and also not really winning any board battles.
You literally cannot expect any plauer to win the puck and don’t pass it to anyone and just go and score by themselves. I mean maybe if he is prime Ovie but there is only one of that.

 

[nowhereman]

Ov’s rookie season will probably never be matched, so you want to compare Petey to OV who is like the 2nd best goal scorer since Gretzky?
Crosby won his hart with Kunitz on his line which is essentially his Burrows and he’s another generation player but I don’t think he has played with players who is slumping as hard as Mik and Hog or literal AHL players. Also it helps that Crosby and Malkin play together on the PP.

Yes you can staple a crap player with Datsyuk when you have Zetterberg as well.

Yes Petey is struggling with absolute plugs right now and even this last game we seem the moment he is mixed with like anyone else really he starts to create chances. Also doesn’t help that our PP is struggling and that’s mostly coaching.

I understand the exaggeration in comparing Pettersson to some of the best players of all time but it is an example that elite players shouldn't just turtle with poor linemates. If anything, they should at least be able to pass the eye test and look like a man amongst boys. If you want 11.5 million, you should be able to make your linemates marginally better. I haven't seen any of that fight from Pettersson.

P.S. Kunitz didn't play for the Penguins in the season I mentioned and Zetterberg was not Dastyuk's winger when he played with Abdelkader. But, again, I realize we're talking about the 5th best player of all time and one of the best two-way players ever. It's just that... I had high hopes that Petey could be Datsyuk-like.

 

[Cancuks]

This offseason we're going to be forced to sign a Guentzel to a $9 million+ deal just so Pettersson has a linemate to play with. Now we're paying nearly a 1/4 of the cap to 2/3 of a line because Mr Invisible can't make his linemates better. I just don't see Rutherford and Allvin being okay with this. Think he'll be dealt before his NMC kicks in if he doesn't pick up his play.

 

[arttk]

I understand the exaggeration in comparing Pettersson to some of the best players of all time but it is an example that elite players shouldn't just turtle with poor linemates. If anything, they should at least be able to pass the eye test and look like a man amongst boys. If you want 11.5 million, you should at least be able to make your linemates marginally better. I haven't seen any of that fight from Pettersson.

P.S. Kunitz didn't play for the Penguins in the season I mentioned and Zetterberg was not Dastyuk's winger when he played with Abdelkader.

Kunitz was the winger when Sid won
Datsyuk played with Zetterberg in the cup winning season?

Mik scored 1 goal in the last 50ish game. It’s hard to argue that at this point anyone can make him marginally better when 4th line plugs score at a higher pace. We all watch the games, it’s not like Petey doesn’t serve him chances… at some point we have to recognize that if a guy can’t score on breakaways, 2 on 1, against Skinner with the net half empty, there is nothing to elevate. It’s not like we can say at least he is creating chances by making plays, he’s not even doing that.
Hog before being taken out was equally bad if not worse, not passing, losing every board battles, basic expectation shit.
It’s super frustrating to watch us dump the puck and see Mik and Hog/ Karlsson go in and then see the puck come out right away.
Hockey is a team sport, when you have 2 wingers that can’t meet basic expectation and at the same time offer zero offensive threat, the other team can just focus on shutting the only guy that can create.

 

[DS7]

To be fair to Petey. Mikheyev could be on a line with McDrai and he'd still just hit the goalie crests from all the set ups.

 

[Nucker101]

Guy badly needs a shrink

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Guy badly needs a shrink

What he badly needs are linemates who can do something. While that doesn't excuse him entirely, it really cannot be overlooked. As noted above, Mikheyev has 1 single goal in nearly 60 games. He does literally nothing offensive, and some nights isn't that great defensively. What is Pettersson supposed to do? You can't elevate someone like that.

What's infuriating is that despite nearly two months of this, Tocchet will not try anything different. Oh wait, scratch that. He bumps Sam friggin' Lafferty up.

We've essentially given Pettersson trash to work with and expected gold.

 

[Nucker101]

What he badly needs are linemates who can do something. While that doesn't excuse him entirely, it really cannot be overlooked. As noted above, Mikheyev has 1 single goal in nearly 60 games. He does literally nothing offensive, and some nights isn't that great defensively. What is Pettersson supposed to do? You can't elevate someone like that.

What's infuriating is that despite nearly two months of this, Tocchet will not try anything different. Oh wait, scratch that. He bumps Sam friggin' Lafferty up.

We've essentially given Pettersson trash to work with and expected gold.

I’ve been a Petey apologist, search my posts in this thread. But I’m not buying this anymore. Elite players still show more than he has, even if paired with shoddy linemates. He’s been given ice time on the lotto line and looks shaky there too, ditto with the powerplay.