As we approach the trade deadline, we can’t help but wonder if the final fix for Elias Pettersson lies with another team?<\/p>\n
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Published Mar 03, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 4 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n The look on Elias Pettersson<\/a>\u2019s face said it all on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. 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Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an Account<\/p>\n or<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n This is a man in a true battle with his emotions. Sad perhaps. Probably angry.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Either way, I could appreciate the fact that being asked, again, to explain why the past two years have been such a disaster on the ice for him was painful.<\/p>\n After a blip of strong play going into the Olympics, Pettersson seems to be back to the same old struggles. He\u2019s a far cry from the player who dazzled Canucks fans for the first six years of his time in Vancouver, give or take.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m capable. It\u2019s frustrating. I haven\u2019t been playing well for some time now, so, yeah, I\u2019m just trying to be me out there every game,\u201d he said Tuesday in a quiet one-on-one interview in the corner of the Canucks\u2019 dressing room at Rogers Arena<\/a> on Tuesday. His team had lost, badly, again, the night before to the Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n It\u2019s obvious how much this is all paining him. He doesn\u2019t like being a talking point \u2014 and yet he can\u2019t avoid it.<\/p>\n Two years ago this week, he signed his current contract, which runs for another six years, averaging $11.6 million per season. That deal carries a mountain of expectation, which he knows very well he hasn\u2019t met.<\/p>\n Canucks Report<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Since signing that deal, he\u2019s played 136 games. He\u2019s put up just 94 points. That\u2019s 139th in the NHL in that time.<\/p>\n In the 136 games before he signed his current contract, he put 171 points. That was seventh in the NHL over that stretch. He was a glorious player. He got fans on their feet. Fans chanted his name in admiration. There was a buzz around him.<\/p>\n The switch is dumbfounding, one that Pettersson has been asked about before and on Tuesday. He said he still has no answer. It\u2019s incredibly difficult, he acknowledged.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not fun, but I can only dictate and focus on my future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That future, though, is a little unclear beyond a boilerplate answer. And just from this exchange, I got the sense there\u2019s a lot churning on the inside.<\/p>\n What is that future, I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to do everything to help the team win, be a good teammate, play for a team, play for the crest,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n \u201cTrust me, I\u2019m just trying to find my game every game. I haven\u2019t been my best for some time. Trust me, no one wants that more than me.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n And it was there were our conversation ended. He got up and left. The emotion was raw. The next question was going to be if he\u2019s talking to the right people, but given how tense he\u2019d felt at the end, it\u2019s understandable that he didn\u2019t want to linger.<\/p>\n He\u2019s as lost for answers as we all are. Fans come to me and ask what\u2019s changed; I don\u2019t have the answers and he clearly doesn\u2019t, though he\u2019s been looking for one. Those around him see the struggles he\u2019s gone through.<\/p>\n The team has disintegrated around him. Two years ago he was on top of the world. An All-Star, a key player on a team that looked like it was going somewhere.<\/p>\n And now that\u2019s all gone. This is a team in a rebuild, a different place that a team that was banking towards contention.<\/p>\n People that watch him see a guy who still has it inside of him. But is he focusing his playing energies in the right place? It\u2019s great that he\u2019s throwing hits and blocking shots and doing all these things that show up on the score sheet, but he used to be the guy who carried the puck up the ice, who set his teammates up for scoring chances, who had one of the hardest shots in the league.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Surely he can find all that again. But it\u2019s hard to see him finding that here. A fresh start, with a new team, in a new role, maybe that\u2019s what he needs. That was another question left unasked. He probably wouldn\u2019t have answered.<\/p>\n In the end, what did I gather from our chat? This guy cares. His struggles are eating him up. He knows very well what people are paying to see, what they want to see \u2014 and what he\u2019s not giving them.<\/p>\n Set the salary aside, just think about the hockey. We watch hockey because we want to see athletes at their best. But sometimes we forget the athletes in the middle feel all that too. He was excellence, he felt it.<\/p>\n Obviously he\u2019s feeling its absence. We can\u2019t help him find that, only he can, but we can hope he does because it will better for those of who watch him, but most of all for him, the human.<\/p>\n pjohnston@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Canucks: These are the darkest days in the franchise’s history<\/p>\n![\"Vancouver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cp175642838_300840559.jpg\")
Vancouver Canucks’ Elias Pettersson (40) waits to take a faceoff during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 17, 2026. Photo by Darryl Dyck \/THE CANADIAN PRESSArticle content<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/20.7.1\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-vp.svg\"){kind=logo}
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Elias Pettersson (40) checks Edmonton Oilers\u2019 Connor McDavid (97) on Jan. 17, 2026. Photo by DARRYL DYCK \/THE CANADIAN PRESS<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2263962443_301801419.jpg\")
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