What's eating Gilbert Grape? I mean Elias Pettersson!

[PavelBure10]

Hi there, I am new to adding the polls so hopefully I did this right.

I brought this up in the Vegas game day thread. A couple of people responded and had completely different views, which to me makes for some interesting discussion.

In your opinion, What is going on with Elias Pettersson?

Is he hurt? Is he just slumping? Is this just his demeanor? What is going on with the Canucks superstar centerman?

I honestly think Pettersson is hurt. His skating seems to of slowed down considerably. Petey is falling as much as his rookie year. He also is shooting a lot less, always passing the puck while being wide open. I think something is tweaked in either his groin or wrist.

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[Bgav]

He's clearly injured

 

[Hansen]

He is playing hurt chasing the money and Im very worried that its a more serious injury like Mikheyev last year

 

[Ginger Papa]

Hi there, I am new to adding the polls so hopefully I did this right.

I brought this up in the Vegas game day thread. A couple of people responded and had completely different views, which to me makes for some interesting discussion.

In your opinion, What is going on with Elias Pettersson?

Is he hurt? Is he just slumping? Is this just his demeanor? What is going on with the Canucks superstar centerman?

I honestly think Pettersson is hurt. His skating seems to of slowed down considerably. Petey is falling as much as his rookie year. He also is shooting a lot less, always passing the puck while being wide open. I think something is tweaked in either his groin or wrist.

I enjoyed the Title and your poll turned out just fine.

I also think Elias is injured.

 

[Bobby9]

He’s tired.

He weighs as much as the average American woman and is not built for top line minutes.

JT Miller is built for that. EP40 is a twig for hockey requirements

 

[credulous]

i'm skeptical he's hurt. he's always been kind of inconsistent and mercurial and the injury theories are mostly like 'his wrist is hurt again so he can't shoot' but he's never been a shooter or 'he got rocked and is playing through a concussion' except that's not really how concussions work. the injury theory also doesn't really explain the (short) stretches of good play he's had

i've heard he's not really that into hockey or being a pro and it's more of a job to him than a passion and i think he's probably just going to have stretches like this throughout his career as his engagement dips

 

[biturbo19]

He's always kind of been like this. He's so talented that he can skirt by and rack up points without really being fully and consistently engaged. He's got the skill level to turn it on for like three shifts and completely change the game and pile up a bunch of points. It's maybe kind of frustrating...but it is what it is. Just seems to be part of his personality or makeup as a player.

Mercurial is the word used a fair bit to describe it, and i think it fits. He's just a bit moody and his motor and motivation can run hot and cold. We've seen this pattern enough to understand it at this point, i think.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Top 5 in points, he’s been very good, just hasn’t been Great. Not concerned.

 

[SillyRabbit]

He is playing hurt chasing the money and Im very worried that its a more serious injury like Mikheyev last year

Elias Pettersson, sitting at home on the couch, recovering from injury, with a stat line of 13GP, 24P.

vs

Elias Pettersson, playing poorly for over a month, with a stat line of 24GP, 30P.

Which one has better bargaining power?

If he's chasing money, he's doing it in the dumbest way possible.

His value is most clearly demonstrated when he's healthy. All he's done over the past month by playing through injury is damage his negotiating leverage.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Clearly he's just been injured for 4 years outside of 5v5 last season.

 

[RobertKron]

He looks like he has some kind of core or groin injury. His skating is laboured and ginger as hell, he seems absolutely unable generate any power at all with his stride and only gets up to speed when he has time to wind it up, and he appears to be having a lot of trouble bracing himself to get strong on his feet when anyone even remotely lays a body or even just a firm stick on him.

He's still trying to do all the things - trying to skate with the puck, trying to step into people and finish his checks and all that, but it looks like there's just no explosiveness or power in there at all.

 

[Cancuks]

His play deteriorated after the talk of a contract extension started. I don't think this a coincidence. Now he's probably feeling pressure to perform well to get his big payday and it's having a negative effect.

 

[biturbo19]

He looks like he has some kind of core or groin injury. His skating is laboured and ginger as hell, he seems absolutely unable generate any power at all with his stride and only gets up to speed when he has time to wind it up, and he appears to be having a lot of trouble bracing himself to get strong on his feet when anyone even remotely lays a body or even just a firm stick on him.

He's still trying to do all the things - trying to skate with the puck, trying to step into people and finish his checks and all that, but it looks like there's just no explosiveness or power in there at all.

I'm not really sold on this. He's always been a significantly less than "powerful" skater. His stride is super inefficient and never particularly strong. He's always been a beanpole who can be easy to physically knock off balance and overpower.

The difference is, when he's fully engaged and feeling it, he becomes so elusive that it doesn't really matter. But when he's less engaged and the intensity slips a bit...he becomes a lot easier to pin down and contain.

 

[PavelBure10]

That's the thing with this discussion and what makes it so interesting. Petey has been either injured most of his career or there is a pattern "as someone said above" that is going on here. No one has a clue what's going on with Pettersson, only Pettersson knows what's going on. I myself can honestly say that I could pick any one of these 4 answers that I made up for the poll. At times I think Pettersson is his own demon and gets into his own head and takes things too hard on himself. Or Petey saying how much he wants to win, then dangling his future like a carrot to the Canucks makes me think. Or missing a breakaway and dwelling on it, almost as if hes pouting. I honestly don't know because I myself am still trying to learn the antics of the Alien. My heart though tells me that he is injured, and playing hurt throughout his contract year.

 

[canuckking1]

I just hope he flips a switch soon because if he doesn’t this teams in serious trouble

 

[Regal]

I think something is bothering him, but I also think he seems like someone who might not be the best at fighting through something that’s bothering him. I’ve mentioned before that if he wants to get paid top tier money he needs to be better than he has been even if he is hurt because most players aren’t 100% all year and the very best players need to find a way to be a contributor even when they’re not.

 

[Zanon]

He’s falling down constantly. He doesn’t look right. Something is up.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

He's hurt.

 

[Icebreakers]

To me it's obviously a mental issue.

The guy is falling with no one within a meter of him sometimes.

Do you think an inury prevented him from scoring those 2 free empty nets? It's all in his head.

He's got a lot of expectations from the public and from himself. It's different when you are having fun and performing versus doing it because you are paid to do it and the fans expect you to be perfect.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

He’s tired.

He weighs as much as the average American woman and is not built for top line minutes.

JT Miller is built for that. EP40 is a twig for hockey requirements

We need more north american hard bois and less soft euros!

 

[Binder]

i am beginning to lose faith in pettersson, just like henrik and daniel, and just like naslund

disappears when it matters, despite the downgrade i feel like this team has a better chance by replacing him with someone like sam bennet

sorry, i have been disappointed by Swedish forwards too many years in the playoffs to want them leading the offense anymore

and i can see it written all over the way he is playing right now, you don't get to slump when you make 8 figures, end of story

 

[Nucklehead Supreme]

i am beginning to lose faith in pettersson, just like henrik and daniel, and just like naslund

disappears when it matters, despite the downgrade i feel like this team has a better chance by replacing him with someone like sam bennet

sorry, i have been disappointed by Swedish forwards too many years in the playoffs to want them leading the offense anymore

and i can see it written all over the way he is playing right now, you don't get to slump when you make 8 figures, end of story

When it mattered most he had 18 points in 17 games but go on...............

 

[AD16]

He’s hurt, I think you can see that in every facet of his game. His lack of explosiveness in his skating and reluctance to shoot are clear examples. Tocchet himself has said he’s nursing something. Maybe we can stop weaving baseless narratives about his drive to be a pro and mental toughness.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

i am beginning to lose faith in pettersson, just like henrik and daniel, and just like naslund

disappears when it matters, despite the downgrade i feel like this team has a better chance by replacing him with someone like sam bennet

sorry, i have been disappointed by Swedish forwards too many years in the playoffs to want them leading the offense anymore

and i can see it written all over the way he is playing right now, you don't get to slump when you make 8 figures, end of story

It's not too late to delete this.

 

[Binder]

When it mattered most he had 18 points in 17 games but go on...............

he had 3 points in 1 game against vegas and when they turned up the pressure he disappeared and had 2 more points in 6 games, but go on

hell disappear just like henrik and daniel did against boston