VANCOUVER — The word of the day Monday for Elias Pettersson was "excited." And not just to play golf in the Vancouver Canucks' annual pre-training camp charity tournament, although that, too, is for the avid golfer.

In his media scrum on the tarmac outside Northview Golf & Country Club in Surrey, the permanently enigmatic centre said eight times in six minutes that he is excited to be back with the Canucks and playing hockey again. Pettersson’s excitement-per-minute, even delivered in his stoic manner, was especially impressive since reporters' voices occupied half of his press conference.

If Pettersson plays this National Hockey League season with even half the excitement of his word count on Monday, maybe the $92.8-million veteran actually can roll back time and be something closer to the first-line star he once was.

But as we’ve said before, it has been so long since Pettersson was the 102-point offensive virtuoso (in 2022-23) who commanded that franchise-record contract that everyone, including his employers, should stop dreaming wistfully of a return to world-class stardom for the Swede and instead focus on how he can help the Canucks now.

Pettersson is coming off back-to-back 15-goal seasons in which he amassed 96 points over 138 games, production worthy of a solid second-line NHL centre.

These points, of course, were squeezed from him under extreme duress. None of the Canucks still standing (in........

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