Was Elias Pettersson’s disastrous season a one-off, or a sign of things to come?: Canucks 2025 Year in Review

Where to begin when reviewing Elias Pettersson’s season? In reality, you probably have to go back to the All Star break of the previous season. Or at least the day he signed his franchise-record eight year/$92.8M contract extension last March. Simply put, the 26-year-old hasn’t been the same player since. And in so many ways, this past season was no different than the 2024 playoffs or the stretch run before that.

Pettersson has been in freefall for 18 months now. Two seasons removed from a 39 goal and 102 point campaign to an abysmal 15 goals and just 45 points in 64 games over the course of a tumultuous 2024-25 schedule.

But the dreadful statistical profile only tells a part of the Elias Pettersson story from last season. From underwhelming at training camp to a sluggish start to the season to an unresolvable personality clash with JT Miller that became front page news around the National Hockey League and ultimately led to a Miller trade that shifted the trajectory of the organization, Pettersson’s season was one brush fire after another.

The highest paid player on the team finished seventh on the Canucks in goals and sixth in team scoring. Pettersson opened the scoring once all season, scored one game winner (he had 10 the previous season), had one multi-goal game and managed to produce just three goals away from home. All of those are mind-boggling truths from a player who used to dominate hockey games not that long ago.

With Pettersson on the ice at 5-on-5, the Canucks controlled 48.6% of all shot attempts, were outshot by nine and outscored by one. Of his 45 points on the season, 23 came at 5-on-5 – which tied Pettersson with Nils Höglander and was one behind Teddy Blueger.

But as mentioned, the statistical profile was only part of the curious case of a player who wasn’t even the best Elias Pettersson on the team on some nights late in the season.

Much has been made of the NHL Edge data that clearly shows the 2018 Rookie of the Year suffered a massive decline in both shot velocity and skating speed last season. In 2023-34, Pettersson registered 111 speed bursts over 20 miles per hour. This season tha number declined to 68. And a season ago, Pettersson recorded 15 shots that were clocked between 90 and 100 miles per hour. This season that number dropped to just three. Some of that can be explained by two separate injuries and the 18 games he missed. However, the decline in Pettersson’s shot volume is alarming. From a career high 257 shots on goal two seasons ago to 207 in 2023-24 to a paltry 109 this past season.

This is a player blessed with an elite one-timer and a wrist shot that has overpowered NHL goalies at times earlier in his career. Now there is hesitation, second-guessing and double-clutching almost every time Pettersson finds himself in a shooting position.

He needs to build up strength to stay on his feet and then when he finds himself open, needs to rely on the instincts that made him the fifth overall pick in the 2017 draft and has led him to three 30+ goal seasons. Sometimes it really is as simple as ‘shoot the puck.’

Next season will be Pettersson’s eighth in the NHL. He is no longer a young player finding his way. He is one of the highest paid players in hockey and he needs to take the summer to figure out how to get his production to mirror his paycheque.

With full trade protection that kicks in on July 1st, Pettersson’s name will surely remain in trade speculation for the next month as the Canucks front office tries to set the course for the hockey club for next season and beyond. But both President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford and new head coach Adam Foote have both spoken publicly recently as if they expect Pettersson to be on the roster and in the line-up when next season begins.

While his teammates continued to grind into mid-April, Pettersson’s off-season began on March 22nd after suffering an oblique injury in New York that prevented him from playing the final 12 games on the schedule. He has since been declared healthy and was put on notice by the organization that a repeat of last summer’s preparation for the new season will not be tolerated.

Pettersson should start fresh in September. His chief adversary no longer plays here. He has a clean slate with a new head coach. And the Canucks need to see a hardened, motivated and dedicated player when the club assembles for training camp.

Years from now, it has to be hoped that the 2024-25 season will merely be an odd footnote to an otherwise spectacular career for Elias Pettersson. However, if next season looks anything at all like this past season or the late stages of the one before it, then it’s fair to wonder how the Vancouver Canucks can possibly move forward with Pettersson as one of their best hopes for success.