Look out NHL: Elias Pettersson is on the warpath.<\/p>\n
In a recent Swedish interview with Peter Ekholm<\/a> for NHL.com, Pettersson took a break from talking about his offseason training and adding muscle to drop one of the coldest quotes of the offseason.<\/p>\n \u201cFor my part, I want revenge,\u201d said Pettersson, via Google Translate.<\/p>\n And, to be clear, the word he used in Swedish is revanschlust, a compound word combining the word for revenge \u2014 revansch \u2014 and lust.\u00a0He doesn\u2019t just want revenge; he has a lust for revenge.<\/p>\n Damn. \u201cLust for Revenge\u201d even sounds like a late-eighties action thriller, probably starring Steven Seagal before he went off the rails. Not since Daniel Sedin was out for blood<\/a> has a Canuck entered a season sounding so intent on violence.<\/p>\n Okay, okay, the word \u201clust\u201d in Swedish is a little bit softer than it is in English, meaning simply a desire or appetite. And, in context, it doesn\u2019t sound quite as cold, as he precedes the line with, \u201cI haven\u2019t actually thought about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know what I can do,\u201d he said. \u201cI haven’t actually thought about it, but for my part, I want revenge. I’m not happy with the season that was. But it’s done now. There’s no point in dwelling on it. I’m learning from what happened last season to become a better and more mature player for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with the phrase couched in that context, there\u2019s a reason the \u201cI want revenge\u201d quote is getting attention. \u201cI want revenge\u201d is a badass line, while also setting up all kinds of expectations for Pettersson\u2019s season. If Pettersson struggles to start the season, you know his detractors will be saying, \u201cI thought you wanted revenge?\u201d<\/p>\n But what kind of revenge does Pettersson want, anyway? There are lots of different types of revenge. Let\u2019s unpack this.<\/p>\n 1 | Revenge on the doubters and haters<\/p>\n The first meaning of \u201cI want revenge\u201d that jumps to my mind is revenge on all those who doubted him. And, after a 45-point season, there are a lot of doubters.<\/p>\n Like Pa Cox saying, \u201cThe wrong kid died<\/a>,\u201d there have been plenty of Canucks fans saying the wrong centre got traded, suggesting the team should have moved Pettersson instead of sending J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers.<\/p>\n That lays out plenty of motivation for revenge for Pettersson. As George Herbert said<\/a>, living well is the best revenge, but in this case, the best revenge is playing\u00a0well.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Pettersson can get back to the 100+ points he tallied a couple of seasons ago, or scores at a point-per-game pace while playing Selke-caliber defence, he\u2019ll get his revenge.<\/p>\n 2 | Revenge on himself<\/p>\n Perhaps Pettersson isn\u2019t paying any attention to what anyone else has to say. He\u2019s often said that he\u2019s his own worst critic, so the person he wants vengeance against the most might be his past self.<\/p>\n It\u2019s even in the quote: \u201cI\u2019m not happy with the season that was\u2026I’m learning from what happened last season to become a better and more mature player for next year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n To extrapolate, that means last season\u2019s Pettersson was bad and immature, the exact type of person for whom Pettersson has no patience. It\u2019s time to get revenge on past Pettersson by being a better Pettersson than the Pettersson he used to be.<\/p>\n Some might even say that the only victim of vengeance is yourself; Pettersson is just literalizing it.<\/p>\n 3 | Revenge on J.T. Miller<\/p>\n Some claim that the rift\u00a0last season between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson was overblown. That includes Miller<\/a> and Pettersson<\/a>.<\/p>\n But I say the NHL needs more soap operas<\/a>, so let’s lean into the drama. So yeah, sure, let’s pretend Pettersson was talking about Miller when he said, “I want revenge.”\u00a0<\/p>\n If Pettersson wants his revenge, he won\u2019t have to wait long. On October 28, Miller will make his return to Vancouver<\/a> for the first time since the trade.<\/p>\n What form will the vengeance take? A hat trick? A dirty hit? A fight? No stick tap on the ice when the inevitable J.T. Miller tribute video plays on the jumbotron? The possibilities are endless!<\/p>\n 3 | Petty revenge<\/p>\n Okay, fine, the odds of Pettersson actually seeking vengeance on Miller are slim to none. Maybe he\u2019ll be looking for a slightly smaller form of revenge.<\/p>\n One of the more popular subreddits out there is r\/pettyrevenge<\/a>, where Redditors share their stories of getting back at the antagonists in their lives in small ways for the most\u00a0minor and trivial of offences.<\/p>\n Maybe that\u2019s the type of revenge Pettersson was talking about. \u201cPetey revenge\u201d is just one letter away from \u201cpetty revenge,\u201d after all.<\/p>\n My guess is that he had a messy roommate in the past \u2014 I\u2019m looking at you, Nils H\u00f6glander <\/a> \u2014 and he\u2019s going to get his revenge by stealing all of the lids to his Tupperware<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n Or maybe Pettersson’s revenge is entirely unrelated to the Canucks. It could be that for the past several seasons, there\u2019s been a guy who keeps parking his car in Pettersson\u2019s driveway. After putting up with it for years, Pettersson is going to finally get his revenge by parking his car behind theirs<\/a> in his own driveway, blocking them in just before the Canucks go on their six-game road trip in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n 4 | Revenge against the system<\/p>\n Sometimes, the system itself lets you down \u2014 typically, the criminal justice system in revenge movies, like in Law Abiding Citizen<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m going to bring the whole system down on your head.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, I don\u2019t think Pettersson is going to go on a horror movie rampage through the NHL like Gerard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen. At least, I hope he won’t \u2014 that movie was terrible.\u00a0<\/p>\n But maybe the system that Pettersson wants vengeance against isn\u2019t some societal system; it\u2019s Rick Tocchet\u2019s system.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are some who argue that the biggest reason for Pettersson\u2019s struggles last season wasn\u2019t the knee injury that hindered his off-season training<\/a>, but a system that hindered his offensive creativity. They point to a guy like Clayton Keller, who struggled offensively under Tocchet with the Arizona Coyotes, then broke out as soon as Tocchet left.<\/p>\n What better revenge could Pettersson get than by erupting offensively right after Tocchet leaves town? He\u2019s going to put the\u00a0system\u00a0on trial<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n 5 | John Wick<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an important question that everyone in Vancouver needs to think about: did you, accidentally or otherwise, do something bad to Pettersson\u2019s dog?<\/p>\n