Delorme saw him early has and gave the organization a hard sell on Petey according to Benning
“Ronnie saw him early and was a loud voice for him right from the start — even before any of us had seen him,” recalled Canucks general manager Jim Benning. “He was in my office and said ‘we’ve really got to watch this guy.’ He loved his skill and hockey sense.
“We saw Elias anywhere from 70 to 90 times in his draft year because he was a bit of a late bloomer. In Sweden, they identify top kids when they’re 12 or 13 and when he was 14 and 15, he wasn’t one of those. He came more into his own at 17 when he had a growth spurt
Gradin also played a huge part of it, seeing Petey several times on his own accord.