VANCOUVER – Shortly before this season began, Elias Pettersson finished another one of those interviews in which he says almost nothing.

He was accommodating, but not revealing. Nothing introspective.

At the end of the brief conversation, however, when Pettersson was asked if he expected to at least do better than his 15-goal, 45-point disaster from 2024-25, he paused and then deadpanned: “Yeah, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

With Pettersson and the Canucks then still riding the vibes of a positive training camp and full of hope for a bounce-back season, it was a rare moment of self-deprecating humour from the most expensive, and one of the most enigmatic, players in franchise history.

Seventy-four games later for Pettersson, the 27-year-old finished with 15 goals and 51 points (in 10 more games than the previous season) as the Canucks cratered and were last in the National Hockey League by 14 points.

Late in the regular season, my boss asked if it was time for another “What’s-wrong-with-Elias-Pettersson” story.

My response: “Maybe nothing’s wrong. Maybe this is who he is now” – a 50-point, second-line centre who plays with a defensive conscience, blocks shots, and exasperates fans and coaches alike because he’s capable of so much more.

It has been more than 26 months since Pettersson’s elite, offensive game vanished over a cliff in February 2024 just as Canucks management was leaning on the Swedish centre to sign a long-term extension ahead of that year’s trade deadline. Or else.

In 166 games since Pettersson had three assists in a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 15 two years ago, he has 36 goals and 113 points, tied for 133rd in the NHL over that time.

In his previous 135 games, going back to the start of his 102-point season in 2022-23, Pettersson’s 174 points were seventh-best in the league. You can probably name the only six guys who were ahead of him: Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl and Mikko Rantanen.

No wonder the Canucks gave Pettersson that $92.8-million contract, and no wonder they have regretted it for most of the time since then.

This is the third straight off-season when the narrative around Pettersson is the same. He needs a big summer to train and work on his game so he has the chance to rebound next year.

But maybe this is who he is now.

“He's been disappointing, obviously,” Canucks president Jim Rutherford said at his season-ending press conference 11 days ago. “I think there's a lot of good things he did. He tried to become a two-way player and, you know, he's tried to do the things that it ultimately takes to win as a team. But his production is down so much, it's difficult, right?”

Rutherford continued: “It's the same as anything people do in life; preparation is the key to success. And I don't believe he's put enough preparation in at this point to be the player he needs to be. But he's young enough, he's capable of doing it, and if he does the things he's told to do, he has a chance to succeed here. But if he doesn't, you know, the (next) GM is going to have to make a decision.”

It was the same issue that the GM Rutherford just fired, Patrik Allvin, raised publicly halfway through the previous season.

“I think, again, it comes back to expectations and preparation -- how you prepare yourself?” Allvin told Sportsnet at the end of 2024. “I don't believe that he was aware of just how hard it was going to be. Just because you achieve one thing to get a long-term extension ... life just gets harder. You haven't really accomplished anything. You're not even halfway there (to winning a Stanley Cup). And then obviously the mental part comes in there, too, and suddenly you feel the pressure.”

Asked to get stronger and heavier last summer, Pettersson did what the team wanted.

Overall, he still tested disappointingly at training camp – enough of the veteran Canucks were near the bottom of the fitness standings that staff did not post conditioning results for all players to see – but he added six kilograms and was stronger.

Still, he finished with 51 points. Petterson scored in just one of the Canucks’ final 36 games, a two-goal effort on March 17 against Florida that ended a 20-game scoring famine.

With 14 points in 14 games in November, Pettersson did have his best month since signing his franchise-record contract. But he missed eight games with an upper-body injury at the start of December while also dealing with the emotional blow of his wife, Katelyn’s, miscarriage.

Pettersson’s game was not the same after he returned.

“He’s got to be better, and he knows that, he’s aware of that,” head coach Adam Foote said after benching Pettersson in the third period of a Feb. 28 loss in Seattle. “We need more from him and he’s got to find it. He knows he’s got to be better for us and we’ll see that next game.

“(He has) got to play with more zip, like, more pace to his game, more engaged. Good things will happen when he gets his motor going.”

Foote sounded a lot like previous coach Rick Tocchet, who told us one year earlier, after a loss in Utah: “We've talked about he has to move his feet, and can't double clutch (with the puck). I think he's waiting for something. I don't know if it's a lack of confidence in his shot, but as soon as he has room, he's got to take it and. . . just got to blast it. He's not moving his feet. If he just takes three or four strides ... I don't know if it's a mental block right now, all year, but he's got to move his feet.”

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Tocchet had planned to visit Pettersson in Sweden last summer, but instead left the Canucks for the Philadelphia Flyers.

None of Pettersson’s “problems” are new. He needs to be better prepared, better conditioned and stronger on his skates. He must play with pace and shoot the puck.

But, again, on the ice, it has been more than two years since he regularly did those things.

Before the Canucks’ final game, a 6-1 loss in Edmonton on April 16, Pettersson said of his season: “I didn't start that well, but I thought it's gone a little better and better. But also, I know I can make some changes in the summer that I want to get better at, and try come back better next year.”

But does he need to produce more than 50 points per season?

“Oh, yeah. Points are great. But, like, if I do enough good stuff out there, create chances (and) play good defence, points will come. Of course, I definitely want to have more. That's always a thing. But if I think too much about points, then points are not coming. So I'm just trying to focus on what matters in terms of effort, and making plays – make the right play when they're there and play the right way when a play is not there.”

Pettersson is emphatic that he wants to be part of the rebuild in Vancouver.

In the flat-cap era, his mammoth contract would have burned through the Canucks’ hull over time and sunk the ship. But for now, with a skyrocketing cap and the team loading up on entry-level and early-20s players, his salary isn’t much of a problem beyond the terrible optics.

The Canucks are also going to need a centre to play with Gavin McKenna if the team hits on the NHL’s luxurious one-in-four draft-lottery odds and picks first in June

It should be noted that Pettersson is not a detriment to teammates. According to people inside the team, he takes up little space in the dressing room. He’s quiet, a good teammate and tries hard. He’s still shifty with the puck even if he doesn’t shoot enough or move his feet, and he led all NHL forwards with 108 blocked shots this season.

Pettersson is not a leader, but neither is he a problem in the room.

But he is grossly under-performing that contract and the next manager, hired and empowered by Rutherford and owner Francesco Aquilini, may decide the situation is untenable. Even after re-signing Pettersson, the Canucks looked at trading him in the last two off-seasons. His trade value, like his offence, has eroded.

“You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't,” Rutherford said at his year-end presser. “You're damned if you trade the guy because he could go and take off again. Or you could decide, ‘no, he's going to do it here,’ and he doesn't. So it's a very tough decision. But I do feel confident that Petey has the ability that he can bounce back. And he doesn't have to be a guy that gets 110 points. Even just a point a game will be enough. As this team grows and becomes a better team, it'll be enough for this team to be successful. But he's got to get to that, and he's got to work at it.

“I'm sure that's going to be a key point for the new guy that comes on board. He's going to want to know what's going on with this guy, and he's going to look into it and make that decision.”

“As players, we need to be better,” Pettersson said in Edmonton. “Front office needs to be better, all of us need to be better as a whole organization. It won't come overnight, but if we do the right things over time, good things will happen, I believe.”

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