Elias Pettersson is in his eighth NHL season. He’s played 523 NHL games.

And yet, here we are, listening to Vancouver Canucks management talk about his preparation.

Pettersson’s downfall in Vancouver has been one of the most staggering and frustrating storylines in the cursed 55-year history of the Canucks.

And for those hoping he might get moved at the trade deadline, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin certainly didn’t make it sound likely.

He did, however, offer some insight into his thoughts about the Canucks struggling centre.

“I don’t think his production is where he wants to be or where we want to be,” Allvin said when talking to the media on Wednesday.

Pettersson’s production on a per-game basis is actually down from last year. He produced 0.7 points per game in 2024-25. This season, he’s down slightly to 0.67 points per contest.

Much like president Jim Rutherford did last week, Allvin complimented Pettersson’s defensive game.

“I do think that he’s been working on his two-way game,” Allvin admitted. “I think he’s had stretches where he has played really well two-way hockey.”

That was about the end of Allvin’s compliments towards his highest-paid player.

“But again, a player like that is capable of so much more than where his talent level is,” he said.

Pettersson’s frustrations were evident earlier this week after he got a little defensive when talking to the media about his struggles.

“Whatever he expressed to you guys… I believe that he was probably pretty honest in saying that his game wasn’t where he wanted to be,” Allvin said.

“I haven’t lived up to the expectations of the contract,” Pettersson said on Monday. “I’ll be the first to say it.”

But, as Allvin pointed out on Wednesday, actions speak louder than words.

“It’s easy to say that you’re going to be better, but what are you actually going to do to be better? And I think that the action is something we want to see, and we want to see the players working with,” he said.

“For Elias, it all starts by being prepared and pushing himself every day to get better.”

So here we are. Two years after Pettersson signed a $92.8-million extension with the Canucks, here we are, talking about his preparation.

Although his cap hit is $11.6 million per year, based on the structure of his contract, the Canucks will have paid Pettersson $29 million by the end of this season.

As he continues to collect his cheques, fans are left to wonder if we’ll ever see the previous version of Pettersson again.

“There is no doubt about his talent level,” Allvin said. “We’ve seen that, but hopefully he finds it and hopefully continues to work on it.”