On Tuesday morning, Vancouver Canucks General Manager Ryan Johnson held a press conference to welcome Manny Malhotra as the franchise’s 23rd head coach.

While most of the discussion centred on Malhotra and why he is the right coach to lead the Canucks through their rebuild, toward the end, Johnson was asked a follow-up question on whether he has now spoken with Elias Pettersson. In his latest availability, Johnson shared that he had yet to speak to the Canucks’ struggling star but planned to do so.

Johnson mentioned that he has spoken with Pettersson and outlined the conversation, describing it as a ‘very open and honest’ talk between the two:

“I had a great conversation with Petey. I really enjoyed being able to just talk very openly and honestly about my feelings about his process and some of the adversity and some of the challenges – and there’s a lot of them based on the time he’s been here – but I wanted to hear him speak. I wanted him to be able to speak without judgment, that he knew I was there to listen and not to judge, or to allow him just to speak openly and freely. I think the biggest thing, whatever happens here moving forward, is that I just wanted him to know that I was very comfortable with him just being himself.

“I told him, whatever communication, I’m not going to ask him or put an expectation on him to be something other than that he isn’t, and that that’s okay, and that he and I can work together in any capacity. We may ask things of him, but we’re not going to ask him to do it outside of really who he feels the core of what he is.

“I thought that was very good to establish early. I enjoyed our conversation. It was pleasant and very informational, I think, for both of us, and excited just to move forward. I thought it was a great, you know, 20 minutes, half-hour of just being able to talk without expectations – “I need you to be this, I need you to be that” – it wasn’t that. It was more of what he could understand of how I manage, how I would communicate, and how I intend to treat people in general.”

Pettersson, 27, has struggled to live up to the massive eight-year, $92.6 million extension he signed in March of 2024. In the first two years of the contract, the 6’2″ Swedish centre has scored just 30 goals and 66 assists for 96 points through 138 games. He singlehandedly outdid those totals the year prior to signing that extension, scoring 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points in 80 games in 2022-23.

The conversation around Pettersson in Vancouver since the new regime of Johnson and the Sedins took over has focused on his offseason preparation. After the ‘very open and honest’ conversation with Johnson, Pettersson hopefully has a clear mind and can focus this summer on bouncing back to the form that earned him the largest contract in Canucks history.