Elias Pettersson admits to 'wrong attitude' after signing $92.8M deal with Canucks

Elias Pettersson has once again openly talked about his tough 2024-25 NHL season with the Vancouver Canucks. He finished the season with 15 goals and 30 assists in 64 games. A big drop from his 102-point season back in the 2022-23 NHL season.

Now, it could be considered good performance for a bottom-six forward, but it's not what you expect from Pettersson. A player who is playing in Canucks top-six forward group and is signed on an 8-year, $92,800,000 contract. A handsome salary of $11.6 million is expected to raise eyebrows.

Speaking to NHL.com's Janne Bengtsson, he said he had the wrong mindset early in the year.

"Maybe it was that early in the season I had the wrong attitude," Pettersson said. "… that yes, 'now I've signed a big contract and now I have to do more, instead of just being myself'. And when the points didn't come, I tended to start thinking and overthinking everything instead of just doing what I usually do."

Pettersson's performance took an upward curve after the 4 Nations tournament, but he had to miss the last 12 games with an oblique injury. This was his first season under the new contract, and it was his lowest point total in a full NHL season. It led to questions concerning his performance and contract.

"My game last season was obviously not at the level it was in the two seasons before that," Pettersson said. " I had a knee injury last summer and that hindered a lot of my training then and it was hard to really train 100 percent," Pettersson said.

This summer, he's training more and plans to stay longer in Vancouver before returning to Sweden. The team also supports this decision.

In April, Elias Pettersson admitted that gaining strength has always been hard for him. So, he wanted to use the extra time to improve.

“Strength doesn't come easy for me," Pettersson said, via NHL.com. "I didn't get the best genetics from my parents,” Pettersson said.

Meanwhile, Pettersson's performance drop was reportedly linked to locker room problems. He had a strained relationship with J.T. Miller, and the Canucks had to trade Miller to the New York Rangers in January.

Canucks' president Jim Rutherford's comments on Elias Pettersson

The Canucks missed the playoffs last season, finishing with a 38-30-14 record, despite being first in their division the previous year. However, the team believes Elias Pettersson is still an important part of their future.

"So he's (Pettersson) going to have to buy into being a complete player. He's going to have to buy into working hard, and work on that all summer," Canucks president Jim Rutherford on Pettersson back in April.

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Edited by Alvin Amansec