It hasn’t been the season that Elias Pettersson nor the Vancouver Canucks hoped it would be for year one of Pettersson’s eight-year extension. Off-ice drama with JT Miller aside, the biggest disappointment for the Canucks this season has undoubtedly been Pettersson’s lacklustre play.

Signed to an eight-year extension with an annual average value of $11.6 million ahead of last season’s trade deadline, Pettersson’s 2023-24 campaign ended on a low note, and that poor production has continued into this season. Through 49 games, Pettersson has just 11 goals and 23 assists.

Pettersson is currently on pace for 53 points, which would be the lowest point total of his career (not including 2021, when he played just 26 games). If Pettersson finishes 2024-25 with his current projected goal total of 17, it would mark the first time in four seasons that he fails to score 30 goals.

Something is clearly off, and everyone has their theories and opinions of what that could be. Pettersson admitted to dealing with knee tendinitis down the stretch last season, but most agree that there’s at least some mental aspect of the game that Pettersson is struggling with.

No matter what it is, it’s hard to blame the double clutching and hesitancy to shoot or hold onto pucks solely on lingering knee tendinitis. Despite his overall struggles, Pettersson has turned in excellent defensive play, and has certainly shown flashes of the player Canucks fans have enjoyed watching for years.

One of those flashes came on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, where the Canucks walked away with a 2-1 victory. Pettersson and his linemates were hard-matched against Auston Matthews, and not only won their matchup, but completely neutralized the Leafs’ top line. Combine that with the assist on Filip Hronek’s opening goal after a smart play from Pettersson away from the puck, and all of a sudden, you’ve got a Pettersson statement game.

A potential building block. A launch point. Whatever you want to call it.

Rick Tocchet had plenty of praise for Pettersson after that game, and like the fans, hopes it can be a turning point for Pettersson to build off of. Another thing Tocchet talked about post game was the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he’ll be behind the bench for Canada when they open the tournament against Pettersson and Team Sweden on Thursday.

Tocchet’s message for Pettersson at that tournament? Just have fun.

“I just want him to have fun. I know it’s a serious tournament — I mean, everybody wants to win, it’s serious — [but] I just want him to go represent his country and go have fun with his countrymen. Like, just have fun. Try stuff, and yeah, everyone wants to win this tournament, but what is it? Three, four games?

“I just want him to go out there and have some fun. And come back and hopefully hanging out with his buddies at that tournament will rejuvenize his whole demeanour.

“Like today… I don’t know, he had some fun. He’s got to understand that pressure is fun sometimes.”

Pettersson’s first chance to have fun comes on Thursday, when Pettersson’s Team Sweden takes on