Seravalli: Canucks were shocked to hear Pettersson blame part of his play on injured knee

Daily Faceoff hockey insider Frank Seravalli made an appearance on Friday’s edition of Sekeres & Price to discuss the season that was for the Vancouver Canucks — and, most notably, to share more of his thoughts on Canucks centre Elias Pettersson.

 

After recording 34 goals and 89 points in 82 games during the 2023-24 regular season, Pettersson managed just one goal and six points in 13 playoff contests. His play noticeably tapered off down the stretch, particularly after he agreed to terms on an eight-year, $11.6 million contract extension with the Canucks.

Although Pettersson and his agent have both said he was dealing with a knee injury for part of the regular season and throughout the playoffs, Seravalli has repeatedly indicated since the start of Vancouver’s Round 2 series against the Edmonton Oilers that the Canucks felt the injury concerns were overblown. He reiterated that sentiment in his Sekeres & Price hit on Friday.

“They were, I think, jaws-on-the-ground floored to hear Pettersson try and blame part of his issues in play this second half of the season on the knee,” Seravalli said. “Think about what it says about the team if he actually was injured. Like, let’s unpack it the other way, which is: He practiced, he played, and then you told everyone that he wasn’t hurt, multiple times in fact. And now, all of a sudden he was injured? I think they were really surprised to hear it, I think it was a cop-out to the nth degree.

“The Canucks felt he was the 15th or 17th-most injured player on their roster. That’s what I believe,” Seravalli added. “There were players that played through a lot more than what Elias Pettersson did. Again, his own agent came out this week and acknowledged publicly that he never saw a doctor.”

The Oilers defeated the Canucks in seven games to advance to face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final, which they currently lead three games to two.

The Canucks originally selected Pettersson with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. The Sundsvall, Sweden product has collected 170 goals and 412 points in 470 games over parts of six seasons with the Canucks; he’s added eight goals and 24 points in 30 playoff games.