Elias Pettersson | #40 | C

[-AJ-]

15 minutes ago, Pepe Silvia said:

I've played hockey as a forward for 25 years now and after watching that video I'm convinced I could strap on goalie pads in the 80's and fit right in. Jesus what the hell were they doing? Gretzkys on a break away? Better flop on my side and stack the pads with a weak ass poke check. 

It's honestly comical to watch how poor goaltending was back in those days save for a few exceptional netminders.

[Odd.]

4 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

It's honestly comical to watch how poor goaltending was back in those days save for a few exceptional netminders.

I think it's fair to say he wouldn't have had that many points playing in today's game. 

[Gaudette Celly]

6 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

It's honestly comical to watch how poor goaltending was back in those days save for a few exceptional netminders.

The tiny equipment certainly didn't help.  Little wonder they came out so far to challenge -- when in net, the shooter almost had more open space than goalie to shoot at.  And that's how stickhandlers like Gretzky and fast-passing teams like the Oilers regularly scored so many open-net goals.  Watching him now compared to today's players, he looks so slowwwww, but it was his elusiveness and patience that made him so effective.  Likewise Hughes today, except he does it with speed as well.

[Elias Pettersson]

 

[Elias Pettersson]

 

[*Buzzsaw*]

4 hours ago, old guy said:

If you think Petterson is a better stickhandler than Gretzky, watch a few minutes of this video to refresh ypur memory.

 

You didn't read my thread carefully enough.

 

Wayne Gretzky had a short stick... it is easier to stickhandle fast with a short stick.

 

Pettersson has a longer stick... but if you look for example at the penalty shot he scored on... he is actually stickhandling as fast or faster than Gretzky... with a longer stick.

 

The advantage of a longer stick is when you shoot, you have more leverage... so the shot is harder and faster.

 

As I said before, and as you can see in the highlight package you linked, Gretzky almost always uses his patented slapper... with a short stick you need the force of slapshot.  Wristshots with a shorter stick don't get the same speed.

[TNucks1]

1 hour ago, Elias Pettersson said:

 

lol the twitter responses on it, they cant read it says the great one made the comment on him, SMH.

[Putgolzin]

9 hours ago, bigbadcanucks said:

 

Could Boeser be Kurri?  Could Horvat be Messier?  Could Virtanen be Anderson?  Could Demko be Fuhr?  Could Hughes be Coffey?  Could Juolevi be Lowe?  Wouldn't that be something if all this came to be for the Canucks?

 

 

Could Boeser be Kurri?  Yup, he could be better

Could Horvat be Messier?  He's already better as a human being

Could Virtanen be Anderson?  Maybe more like Tikanen

Could Demko be Fuhr?  As mentioned above, most current goalies are better than goalies back then

Could Hughes be Coffey?  Mmmm, no I don't think so

Could Juolevi be Lowe?  I don't think so, but he could score more points

And could Petey be Gretzky (my own add)? No, obviously not, but it is remarkable that people don't get mocked out of the building when they dare to float the idea

Wouldn't that be something if all this came to be for the Canucks? This is an exciting young group with a higher quantity of excellent players than lots of championship teams have had...time will tell if that quantity also becomes elite level quality.

[Tre Mac]

7 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

 

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He’s been lucky all season.. and last season in Sweden as well. It seems he is just an incredibly lucky guy.

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The “goal” he scored redirected of the toe of his skate. The “assist” he had was scored on a shot that should be saved 100 out of 100 times. Other than that, he had one shot and was completely irrelvant there entire game. Watch the game John, don’t embarrass yourself.

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He did nothing all game and than the puck hit his skate and went in the net .. media is hyping this kid up way to much

[Kushman]

1 hour ago, Tre Mac said:

Some of those guys are just drinking all the haterade thats out there. 

 

[krutovsdonut]

 

11 hours ago, Hutton Wink said:

The tiny equipment certainly didn't help.  Little wonder they came out so far to challenge -- when in net, the shooter almost had more open space than goalie to shoot at.  And that's how stickhandlers like Gretzky and fast-passing teams like the Oilers regularly scored so many open-net goals.  Watching him now compared to today's players, he looks so slowwwww, but it was his elusiveness and patience that made him so effective.  Likewise Hughes today, except he does it with speed as well.

it's definitely amazing how many goals arose from goalies coming way out to challenge the shooter because they and their gear were so small that if they didn't do that you had half the net to shoot at.  you can also see how easy it would be for a goalie to lose his angle coming out so far.

 

the flip side though is the sticks.  gretzky had that mnemonic top shelf slapper dialed in because you couldn't get a consistent killer wrist shot off in those days unless you were brett hull with arms like a gorilla. 

[Attila Umbrus]

11 hours ago, -AJ- said:

It's honestly comical to watch how poor goaltending was back in those days save for a few exceptional netminders.

You know what's comical..John Garret was a goalie in the NHL...says all you need to know about tending back in the day. But they had a different view of goalies back then. The goalie land scape started to change in the late 80's when Roy came in and introduced the butterfly style. I don't know enough about history to say where it came from but Roy brought it into the main stream and changed everything. 

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

 

 

They said he was too small...they said he was too skinny...they said he wasn't tough enough....lol Stupid media.

[EternalCanuckFan]

13 minutes ago, CRAZY_4_NAZZY said:

 

 

They said he was too small...they said he was too skinny...they said he wasn't tough enough....lol Stupid media.

Dubinsky's not a small guy either.  Clearly didn't expect the reverse hit.

 

Besides the obvious offensive magic that Pettersson has brought this season, I'm continually impressed at his very solid two-way play and his fearlessness to attack the other team.  This reverse hit is just another example of that.  It would have been just as easy for Pettersson to have made the pass and then bailed to avoid the contact but he stood up for himself.  Of course, if this had been someone other than Dubinsky attempting a dirty hit, then it might have been played differently, but it's nice to see him being this well-rounded so soon.  I don't think Pettersson will bring a physical game like Forsberg did (and I kind of hope he doesn't as that took a huge toll on Forsberg's body), but it's good enough to see that he's willing and able to protect himself when needed.  As Pettersson gets stronger, he should also be better able to defend himself against bone headed plays like Matheson's earlier this year.

[Nucker 67]

With all due respect to the Great One, he had hellava good teams to play with in EDM and LA. Pettersson is playing on a rebuilding team, having come from Europe. He's had to adjust, not just his game, but his life. I see the similarities. Both are slight and a bit wirey, but very difficult to hit. Both have incredible vision and awareness. Both have elite passing and a great shot, and can dangle to make heads spin. Gretzky had the support and protection of goons (McSoreley and Cementhead), so he could free-wheel without concern. Pettersson is on his own out there, and yet he's unafraid to go to the dirty areas to get pucks. I think Pettersson might have an overall better game when you factor in his defensive game. He might not get the points Gretzky amassed, but no one ever will. Those successful Oilers years, their team was stacked.   

[gameburn]

On ‎11‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 4:26 AM, R.Dahlin26 said:

Knew he was a Franchise Talent from the jump. IMO he's right there with the tier of MacKinnon/Matthews/Eichel below McDavid.

 

Imagine if they actually selected the obvious choice in Matthew Tkachuk in 2016 and had one of the leagues most dominant PWF's on his line, no one would dare touch him.

 

Tkachuk - Pettersson - Boeser

Goldobin - Horvat - Gaudette

 

would've been deadly

And we'd already have had the benefit of Tkachuk's play for 2 years.   Which we obviously have not had with Juolevi.  Hard to say whether Juolevi will ever catch up with Tkachuk -- at least from a Canucks viewpoint.   And can you imagine the points Tkachuk would be putting up with EP? 

 

I'm curious: do you think the Juolevi vs. Tkachuk pick is evidence of the principle that you should always go for the best player available, regardless of position? 

I think we chose a D on principle that year.  If we'd chosen in the top 3 I'm sure Benning would have gone with Matthews, or Laine or Dubois, all of whom have worked out.  I remember Benning saying something about how a D would be good if the team couldn't get a definitive franchise forward out of the mix (i.e., top 2 or 3).

 

[Gaudette Celly]

1 hour ago, krutovsdonut said:

it's definitely amazing how many goals arose from goalies coming way out to challenge the shooter because they and their gear were so small that if they didn't do that you had half the net to shoot at.  you can also see how easy it would be for a goalie to lose his angle coming out so far.

Lost track of how many times the Oilers made Brodeur and other Canuck goalies look like buffoons.  One time, they passed it around to where a guy had a wide open net... and even he passed it to someone else.  They didn't just score, they embarrassed you as if they were just toying.

 

So many of those famous "Gretzky to Kurri" 2-on-1s ended up as empty-netters.  Little wonder BJ MacDonald put up the points he did.

[gameburn]

2 minutes ago, Hutton Wink said:

Lost track of how many times the Oilers made Brodeur and other Canuck goalies look like buffoons.  One time, they passed it around to where a guy had a wide open net... and even he passed it to someone else.  They didn't just score, they embarrassed you as if they were just toying.

 

So many of those famous "Gretzky to Kurri" 2-on-1s ended up as empty-netters.  Little wonder BJ MacDonald put up the points he did.

Those 2 on 1s were incredible.  I think the  goaltending/goaltending equipment changes since then is one thing that has made those kinds of plays much less common.  And no one with Gretzky's vision has come along til… well... Barzal and our own EP.   That 2 on 1 the other night with EP and Boeser was as close as we'll get to a Gretzky to Kurri kind of play.  Even then the goaltender almost positioned himself to save the Boeser finish.  In the old days I think Boeser would have finished into an open net.  

[joe-max]

11 minutes ago, gameburn said:

And we'd already have had the benefit of Tkachuk's play for 2 years.   Which we obviously have not had with Juolevi.  Hard to say whether Juolevi will ever catch up with Tkachuk -- at least from a Canucks viewpoint.   And can you imagine the points Tkachuk would be putting up with EP? 

 

I'm curious: do you think the Juolevi vs. Tkachuk pick is evidence of the principle that you should always go for the best player available, regardless of position? 

I think we chose a D on principle that year.  If we'd chosen in the top 3 I'm sure Benning would have gone with Matthews, or Laine or Dubois, all of whom have worked out.  I remember Benning saying something about how a D would be good if the team couldn't get a definitive franchise forward out of the mix (i.e., top 2 or 3).

 

It is only evidence that JB looks for good character.

[Nucker 67]

3 minutes ago, joe-max said:

It is only evidence that JB looks for good character.

Good character is important, but not a lot of Stanley Cup champion teams are filled with nice guys. Seems every championship team has at least one or two a-holes on the team. Canucks almost got there with Burr and Lapierre, but Marchand and Thornton proved to be the bigger a-holes.