NHL Analyst Rips Elias Pettersson After Making No Impact This Season

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Tom Banks
November 8, 2024 (10:59)

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Elias Pettersson has been almost non-existent in Vancouver this season, and now a top NHL analyst has ripped his performance thus far.

The Vancouver Canucks have been off to another terrific start in 2024/25, with a 6-2-3 record having them right in the thick of the Pacific Division race early in the season. Somehow, they've done this with no contribution from Thatcher Demko who remains sidelined, and Elias Pettersson, who is off to arguably the worst start of his entire NHL career.

After a poor finish to the 2023/24 season which he explained away as a result of a knee injury, his new campaign hasn't gone any better, with the star forward posting just 2 goals and 5 points in 11 games played thus far. This comes on the back of signing a new long-term deal with the team that carries an $11.6 million AAV, and now, he's been ripped due to his poor performance.

This time it was analyst Bryan Hayes, who ripped Pettersson for not showing up at all this season, stating that Pettersson has stepped on the ice but done nothing all year.

"It feels like Elias Pettersson hadn't played this season." Hayes said. "He's dressing and he's playing but he's doing nothing.

That wasn't all however, as he would go on to say that Pettersson looks like he's forgot how to play hockey, but if he can get it together, this team will start clicking once more.

"If EP can finally snap out of it, it is one of the most curious cases I can recall - How this guy got paid what he did, how he's done what he's done in the past, and how he looks like he's completely forgotten to play. Once he remembers how to play, he'll be a rockstar again."

Hayes isn't the only person concerned, as TSN's Craig Button also has expressed his disappointment in Pettersson this season, and if the Canucks have any hope of making a deep run in 2024/25, they need him to get back to his best.