Elias Pettersson welcomes added 'pressure' after J.T. Miller trade
Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson knows he has a larger burden to perform in the wake of the J.T. Miller trade, but he feels ready to rise to the occasion.
"Honestly, I want that pressure," he said Friday after the Canucks lost 5-3 to the Dallas Stars. "It's up to me to take it."
The Canucks shipped Miller to the New York Rangers as part of a five-player transaction Friday, dealing a major blow to Vancouver's center depth and ultimately shining a brighter spotlight on Pettersson's on-ice production.
The Swede has scored 11 goals and 33 points in 45 outings this season and is on pace for just 19 tallies and 56 points. That would be the lowest output of his career in an 82-game season; Pettersson potted 21 points in 26 outings during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign.
Reports of a rift between Pettersson and Miller first emerged in December. Both players expressed annoyance at the rumors and denied there was a problem, but Canucks president Jim Rutherford confirmed there was some truth to the gossip Tuesday.
"I felt like for a long time that there was a solution here because everybody has worked on it, including the parties involved," Rutherford told The Globe and Mail. "But it only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again."
Canucks captain Quinn Hughes acknowledged Friday that the conflict caused "a lot of noise." However, Pettersson wouldn't say that Miller's exit would help him grow into the player he wants to be.
"I don't want to get into that," he said. "All we can do is look forward. I don't even know what to say."
Pettersson added, "I think both of us made each other better."
Vancouver head coach Rick Tocchet similarly sidestepped a question about what the trade can do for Pettersson if the situation had been weighing him down.
"I don't know about that," the bench boss said Friday. "We need him to play. We need him to come up with some big moments for us. He knows he's an important part of our team, and he's gotta get going."
Pettersson became the sixth player in franchise history with a 100-point campaign in 2022-23, and Miller became the seventh the next season.
Vancouver entered Saturday's slate in fifth place of the Pacific Division with a 23-18-10 record. The Canucks are one point behind the Flames for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, though Calgary has one game in hand.