Canucks: D Elias Pettersson’s impressive start is more than just passing the eye test - Canucks Army

Canucks: D Elias Pettersson’s impressive start is more than just passing the eye testAmid the Vancouver Canucks‘ six-game losing streak, there haven’t been many individual positives to come from it. Of course, Finnish netminder Leevi Meriläinen has kept the Canucks in games; the top line of Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki has carried the team’s offence, but the biggest story may be the emergence of defenceman Elias Pettersson. Starting the season on the Canucks’ third pair and hovering between 14-17 minutes per game, Pettersson has earned the trust of new head coach Manny Malhotra. Pair that with the early-season struggles from Zeev Buium, and Pettersson now finds himself on the top pairing with Filip Hronek. But how did we get here? Well, we started to see something change in his game in Game 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights. In typical D-Petey fashion, he continued to play through contact and excelled doing so. He bought himself extra time in his defensive zone decision-making by using his frame to his advantage.