When the Vancouver Canucks pulled the trigger on the Quinn Hughes trade a month ago, they effectively waved the white towel on a season headed nowhere and affirmed their plan to reset the roster with younger players. And while newcomers Liam Öhgren and Zeev Buium, along with Tom Willander, have all assumed significant roles on the hockey club, 21-year-old defenceman Elias Pettersson has seemingly become an odd man out.

For the third time in four games and sixth time this season, Pettersson was banished to the press box for the Canucks road trip opener against the Buffalo Sabres. In the one game he has played in the past week – Saturday against the Boston Bruins – Pettersson saw just 10:07 of ice time and only one shift over the final eight minutes of the third period of a tight game that required overtime. That was the least ice time Pettersson had seen in a game since November 23rd and was less than half of his season high of 21:05 on November 14th against the Carolina Hurricanes.

For whatever reason, it seems Pettersson has fallen out of favour with the Canucks coaching staff, replaced recently by veteran depth defender Pierre-Olivier Joseph. In 36 games this season, Pettersson has a goal and five assists and has averaged 13:37 of ice time, usually in a sheltered third-pairing role. In his 5-on-5 minutes this season, Pettersson’s underlying numbers are not flattering. While the team has only been outscored by one (19-18), the Canucks have been outshot by 56, and Pettersson’s individual Corsi is 43.9% and the expected goal share with Pettersson on the ice is just 40.4%.

To the eye, the big blueliner hasn’t been nearly as physical or assertive as he was over the second half of last season, as he became a regular in Vancouver’s lineup. At times last season, Pettersson was a menace for opposing forwards, didn’t miss an opportunity to finish a check and established a presence in and around his own net front.

Pettersson’s spot on the team’s NHL roster remains a massive success story for a player taken in the third round of the 2022 Draft. But if he’s not going to play and play regularly on a last-place hockey club, then maybe he should be returned to Abbotsford, where he could log big minutes and work on whatever it is that is keeping him from being a fixture in the NHL lineup at the moment. Development isn’t always a straight line, and if Pettersson’s experiencing a sophomore slump, so be it. It happens to many players.

But rather than getting spot duty at the NHL level, Pettersson looks like a player who could benefit from stepping back for a while and continuing his development under the watchful eye of Manny Malhotra and his staff. Pettersson is waiver-exempt and could easily be shuttled from the big league team to the farm.

Those in the fan base who want to see the bottom fall out on this year’s Canucks should applaud this type of move. It would keep P-O Joseph in the big league lineup while allowing Pettersson to sharpen his skills away from the bright lights of the best league on the planet. The Canucks could summon Kirill Kudryavtsev or even Sawyer Mynio from the minors as left-side insurance while Pettersson works to clean up areas of his game and regain his confidence.

When the Canucks left Pettersson off the Abbotsford roster for the team’s run to the Calder Cup championship last spring, it looked like perhaps his time in the AHL was behind him. But given the current circumstances and the state of his game, maybe a short stint in the Fraser Valley is exactly what he needs at this stage.

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