Elias Pettersson's silence looms large in Canucks home opener, but that's not all

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Maverick Mitchell
October 10, 2024 (12:42)

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A big narrative heading into the regular season was if superstar forward Elias Pettersson can start the season off strong after having a disappointing end to the year in 2023-2024, and last night's game gave a glimpse into starting to answer that question.

In all fairness, Pettersson still finished the year with 89 points and going over a point per game which is no easy task in the NHL, and it is definitely not a fluke. But, do to the slow nature of his production in the last couple months of the 2023-2024 season, fans were disappointed that it was not higher.

In last nights contest (October 9th) against the Calgary Flames, the Vancouver Canucks came out swinging, scoring four goals in he first period and showing signs of pure domination. Even though the team in general started to crumble and lost the game in overtime, there was one player that was quite literally invisible on the ice for the full 60 minutes.

Silence Looms Large: Where was Elias Pettersson?

There are times when it is appropriate to criticize a player due to his poor play or his lack of effort. When the news broke a few weeks ago that EP40 was dealing with a nagging knee injury (patellar tendinopathy), it was understandable that his play could be a bit lackluster begin the season, but, his performance last night, was a different level.

The disappointment was not even in terms of skating ability or lack of offensive production, but it was the lack of presence even the little things like faceoffs that have fans and critics on his back for.

His 44.44 CF% was the fourth-worst on the lineup, while his 46.95 xGF% was the 5th-worst. This was coming against opposition that he should be playing better against, and while Petey still ended up with an assist, he's got to be better if Vancouver wants to repeat their performance from last year.

All in all, this is still only the first game of the season and we here at Canucks Daily believe he is getting way too much hate and criticism for one bad game. There is so much hockey left and to get on him right now for this is a little outrageous.