It may be Elias Pettersson ’s sophomore season, but there’s no slump in sight. While there is an appreciation for what the 20-year-old has done thus far, it isn’t quite at the level he deserves. Among the buzz brought on by the overall success of the team is Pettersson, who is excelling in nearly every statistic tracked.

Why Elias Pettersson Should Be Captain Of The Vancouver Canucks https://t.co/h4kcoXtvUo #Canucks #NHL — CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) July 2, 2019

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Elias Pettersson has played consistently well throughout the season, but the recognition has lagged behind what he deserves. It’s understandable that it has taken a while given the number of storylines surrounding this season compared to last, but it’s about time we shed more light on the budding superstar. This article will present what the numbers have to say about the Canucks’ best player in this young season.

Standard leaderboards will show that he is now up to 4 goals and 14 assists in 13 games. Impressively, all but two of those helpers are primary assists, meaning 16 of his total 18 points are primary points. This gives him the best primary points/60 rate in the league. For almost every goal that he’s been a part of, he has either scored or directly set up the scorer.

The underlying statistics give us a better idea of how vital his his 5-on-5 play has been to the Canucks’ success. The following table highlights noteworthy on-ice measures of Pettersson’s 5 on 5 play among NHL forwards.

The most significant numbers here are the shares, xGF% (expected goals share) and CF% (Corsi share) and to be top 10 in both is great. Slightly more emphasis should be put on xGF% as it’s more descriptive and we can see that he ranks 4th league-wide.

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It’s also surprising to see how well Pettersson is doing defensively. While both his share rates are down, it’s mostly due to the great expected goals against and Corsi against rates. It’s rare to see this combination of great offensive and defensive numbers and quite frankly, it’s something you would expect Selke candidates to put up over the course of a season.

Pettersson’s capabilities on the offensive end are familiar to most observers, as we see his playmaking result in scoring chances or goals for his line, but his defensive play is not as recognized. The numbers above tell us that within the context of the league, his defensive numbers (xGA/60 and CA/60) are actually even better than his offensive numbers.

It’s exceedingly rare for a player in their sophomore season at his age to have this kind of underlying defensive profile. Many of the players that rank ahead of him in important defensive statistics like xGA/60 have much more experience in the league and aren’t nearly as effective on the offensive end, meaning they could be sacrificing offence for defence or are more known as defence specialists. In this young season, the only player with a better on-ice xGA/60 and more points is Brad Marchand .

We can also examine Pettersson’s effect on unblocked shot rates on both ends of the ice. Micah Blake McCurdy who runs HockeyViz creates useful visuals like the ones seen below give us insight into these rates with and without Pettersson on the ice at 5 on 5. On the offensive end, we can see that his impact is above the league average.

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On the defensive end, we can see that his impact through 13 games is elite.

As you can see, with Pettersson on the ice, there isn’t much that the opposition has managed to do at 5-on-5. The blue areas around the net and in the high slot represent the very unusually low amount of shots on goal by the opposition. The -31% threat percentage means that while he’s on the ice, 31% fewer unblocked shots than the league average. That’s elite. For context, last season’s Selke trophy winner, Ryan O’Reilly posted a -8% threat.

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Conversely, without Pettersson on the ice, the Canucks are below league average in shot suppression with a threat of +7%.

The defensive impact that Pettersson has had is the most impressive and underrated aspect of his game this season. We know that he’s a player who takes tremendous pride in playing a 200-foot game and shutting down the opposition defensively and these shot rate maps reflect that.

Outside of statistics that track possession, shots, and scoring that are useful in evaluating how a player helps the team is penalty differential. It’s a statistic that is getting more attention over the last few seasons and I wanted to include it to wrap up this stat-filled write up because it’s such a strength for Pettersson.

PIMs being valued for toughness is a thing of the past and coaches now appreciate players who can draw more penalties than they take. It comes down to helping your team and not hurting it by being on the right side of calls and Pettersson does that well by owning a league-best penalty differential +9. It’s not completely surprising to learn that he hasn’t taken a penalty yet, but to draw 9 in 13 games shows his phenomenal combination of elusiveness and discipline.

While there are many talking points surrounding this Canucks team, one that deserves more attention is the play of Elias Pettersson’s. We are familiar with his offensive abilities, but when we dive into this season’s numbers, it’s clear that he’s taken his defensive play to the next level as well. Combine his 200-foot dominance with his ability to draw penalties and lead a dynamic powerplay to more opportunities and you have a player who’s doing no wrong. In only his second season, Pettersson is showing maturity in his game that has so far, been translating to some impressive statistics.





