On Saturday night in Ottawa, the Vancouver Canucks saw what life would be like with just one of their core five players on the ice, and Elias Pettersson got the rare opportunity to take the leadership reins. And the end results were certainly positive.
Pettersson wasn’t supposed to be the lone survivor for the Canucks’ 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. But Thatcher Demko and Brock Boeser have each missed time due to injuries, J.T. Miller left on a personal leave from the team last Tuesday, and Quinn Hughes’ night against the Senators ended just 12 and a half minutes in when he received a game misconduct for boarding Josh Norris.
For 47 minutes, Pettersson was the last All-Star standing, and he made the most of a tough situation.
Pettersson finished the night with two assists – one on Jake DeBrusk’s second goal of the night and the other on Kiefer Sherwood’s third period game winner – and put together his most complete effort of the season in his 19 minutes of ice time. Hockey Stat Cards gave Pettersson a Game Score of 3.61 for his play against Ottawa, his best of 2024-25 so far. Right from the get-go, Pettersson was dialled in, setting the tone early with a crushing open-ice hit on Tim Stützle.
His night might not have made as loud an impact as his linemates DeBrusk and Sherwood, but Petey’s growing confidence is forcing teams to pay more attention to him and creating more open ice for his wingers. Like Barry Bonds drawing walks without a bat, fear is Pettersson’s hockey stick, and the Senators were sweating every time he entered the attacking zone with the puck.
For Pettersson to find himself as the Canucks’ only star left on the bench and still be able to put up points under double coverage was impressive enough. Leading his team to a win, even against a mediocre Senators team, provided a brief window into a scenario we’ve never really seen. For one night only, the Canucks were undisputably Elias Pettersson’s team.
Boeser and Bo Horvat were already core Canucks when Pettersson arrived in 2018-19, while Hughes and Miller each arrived within the next year. Through his six seasons in Vancouver, Pettersson has never needed to be the guy that all the offence goes through until this week. The team situation that forced him into that role is far from ideal, but if we’re looking at the glass half full, there may be a silver lining for the 26-year-old.
Pettersson is getting a rare chance to expand his role in the Canucks’ locker room and lead the team’s forward corps in his own way. If he makes the most of it, he could take his game to a whole other level by the time his fellow all-stars make their expected returns. Hughes will be in the lineup Tuesday against the Boston Bruins, as will Boeser after sustaining an upper-body injury two weeks ago against the Los Angeles Kings. But that increased reliance on Pettersson isn’t going away anytime soon, and he and the Canucks could be a lot better off for it in the long run.
