VANCOUVER – In all of last season, when Elias Pettersson was the greatest teenager in Swedish hockey since Peter Forsberg, his Vaxjo Lakers’ team lost 11 games in regulation. Total.
Led by the Swedish Hockey League’s most valuable player and scoring champion, Vaxjo went 40-10-2 in the regular season and won the title by 21 points. Then the Lakers crushed everyone in the playoffs, going 12-1 to win the Swedish Stanley Cup.
Pettersson hardly remembered what losing felt like until he came to the Vancouver Canucks, who lost 11 times in November alone and plummeted like a meteor down the National Hockey League standings.
“Of course, you get frustrated,” Pettersson, who turned 20 on Nov. 12, said after Friday’s practice at Rogers Arena. “You look back and say ‘Could I do something else?’ But I’ve lost a lot of games and won a lot of games so far (in hockey). You think of the game that night, but then have training and focus on the next game. You can’t think about one game too much.
“I’m always hard on myself; I always have a high expectation of myself. If I haven’t done a great game but we win, of course I am very happy with the win. But I still want to do better myself. No matter what the result of the game, I always think of what I could do better.”
The NHL’s rookie of the month in October, Pettersson has seen his lead in the rookie scoring race shrink to six points over Ottawa Senator Brady Tkachuk, who had six goals and 10 points in his final 10 November games after returning from injury.
In his first 11 games, Pettersson amassed 17 points. He missed six games with a concussion while the Canucks started 10-6-1. In 11 games since, Pettersson has five points and Vancouver is 1-8-2.
He spectacularly set up Brock Boeser’s goal Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights, but the Canucks still lost when they surrendered a terrible short-handed goal late in the third period.
Veteran players talk constantly about managing emotions, repeating the sensible cliché about getting neither too high nor too low. But that’s a challenge for young players accustomed to success and experiencing NHL adversity for the first time.
“It’s very hard when you’re young,” 33-year-old centre Jay Beagle said. “But that was our message today. We had a little meeting to talk about it: ‘Let’s learn from this November and continue to build our game and build our culture here.’”
Beagle, who broke his forearm on Oct. 13 and whose absence has contributed to the Canucks’ problems, practised Friday but won’t play Saturday’s matinee against the Dallas Stars. He hopes to play Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.
“When I was younger, everything seemed like a big deal,” Beagle explained. “You would get really high, and you would good really low. Over time, I learned to stay more even keel and not let the emotions of the game get to me. You have to come to the rink the next day positive after a loss, especially a hard loss, because that’s what you can control.”
“That’s part of having older guys here,” veteran defenceman Michael Del Zotto said, “to help the younger guys understand that whether we win four in a row or lose four in a row, we stay even keel at all times. We are human; there’s going to be frustration. It’s just nobody wants to lose. So a little frustration is OK, as long as it doesn’t start sinking into the room and on the bench when we’re playing.”
Del Zotto has been impressed by how Pettersson handled himself during October’s highs and November’s lows.
“Petey is a really quiet kid, but he’s opening up as the year goes on,” he said. “What impresses me the most about him is his work ethic every day. No matter where we are as a team or how we’re playing, he works his tail off every single shift. That’s one thing I really respect about him.”
Canucks coach Travis Green said Pettersson is smart and mature beyond his years.
“I’m not worried about him at all,” Green said.
“I think last year we lost 10 or 11 games in total the whole season,” Pettersson said. “Of course there’s a difference (now). But I come to the rink and have fun each and every day and enjoy being here.
“I don’t really think about. . . the team is rebuilding or anything. I’m just thinking about trying to win the games. That’s all I’m focusing on, and to get better each and every day and help the team win. That’s everyone’s mentality in this room.”
Opponents continue to focus defensively on Pettersson, especially now that he is playing with Boeser, last season’s Calder Trophy runner-up who scored twice Thursday in his second game since missing 11 with a groin injury.
But part of Pettersson’s scoring decline is a natural market correction. His 35.7 per cent shooting percentage through 10 games was obviously unsustainable.
With 13 goals and 22 points in 22 games, the centre’s shooting percentage is still at 27.7 per cent.
“I think some games in November I didn’t feel I had quite as much as the beginning of the season,” he said. “But every game will not be like against Colorado (on Nov. 2) and I have five points. I just try to think about making a good game. Points will come.”
More wins will come with them.
[relatedlinks]
