Travis Green excited to see top prospect Pettersson in Canucks line-up The Canucks selected Pettersson fifth overall at the NHL Draft in Chicago and from that moment, Green has been charting his progress. Like everyone in the hockey world, the Canucks coach was captivated by Pettersson’s first season as a professional where he shredded the Swedish Hockey League leading his Vaxjo Lakers to the title.

VANCOUVER – Travis Green remembers the moment he knew Elias Pettersson possessed a special spark. It was a year ago almost to the day following the National Hockey League combine and ahead of the draft when the Vancouver Canucks brought Pettersson to town for a look around the city and a tour of the team’s facilities. In a back room at Rogers Arena, Green, just weeks on the job after being hired as the Canucks head coach, had the opportunity to sit down with the highly-touted prospect.

It was a brief encounter, but it lasted long enough for Pettersson to leave an indelible impression.

“I talked to him for about five minutes – it was small talk because I didn’t know if we were going to draft him – and he had a real confidence to him and a real belief and that’s what stood out,” Green tells tsn1040.ca “I was like: ‘this kid – he’s going to play.’ He’s not cocky, but this guy is dialed in and has no doubt in his mind he’s going to play and he’s going to be good.”

A week after that meeting, the Canucks selected Pettersson fifth overall at the NHL Draft in Chicago and from that moment, Green has been charting his progress. Like everyone in the hockey world, the Canucks coach was captivated by Pettersson’s first season as a professional where he shredded the Swedish Hockey League leading his Vaxjo Lakers to the title.

Along the way, the 19-year-old shattered scoring records for teenagers and did so with a vast array of skills the Canucks hope will follow him, as Pettersson makes the transition to the NHL this fall. While Green concedes his duties behind the bench and the focus required to run his own team prevented him from watching Pettersson’s games overseas, the coach makes it clear that he saw plenty of the prospect’s exploits and came away impressed.

“Almost every day someone in the organization was sending me video of him scoring a goal or making a play,” Green says. “I talked to our scouts and our management about him and the one thing that stood out was his focus and his dedication. He knows what he wants and how he’s going to get there. And that’s a big part of young players succeeding in the NHL.”

As for what Pettersson’s statistics in the Swedish League mean as he climbs the hockey ladder, Green puts plenty of stock in the teen’s production against professionals last season.

“This guy had an amazing season and did things that no one had really ever done over there -- you’d be foolish to discount any of that,” he explains. “Is it a little bit of a different game? Yeah, it is. But the Swedish League is one of the best leagues in the world and there are lots of great young players who have done things over there and came over and had great careers. He was up to the task of all of those guys and even had better numbers. Me personally, I take notice of that and it means something to me, I know that.”

In 44 regular season games with Vaxjo, Pettersson scored 24 goals and registered 56 points. He added another 10 goals and 19 points in just 13 playoff games. For his efforts, he was named SHL Most Valuable Player, Playoff MVP, Rookie of the Year and Top Forward in the SHL. And just this week, Pettersson added another honour to his collection when he was named Young Player of the Year in all of European hockey.

After signing a three-year entry level contract with the Canucks last month, Pettersson should arrive in Vancouver with plenty of confidence as he prepares for his first NHL training camp this fall. Knowing his team can desperately use an injection of skill, Green is already counting down the days until he puts Pettersson to work but cautions there will likely be an adjustment for the young scoring star.

“I think it’s going to be an eye-opener -- it always is for every young guy’s first training camp,” Green says. “But I have a good feeling about this kid. He’s smart, he’s played pro hockey, he’s been around professionals. I’m confident he’s going to come to camp and be in great shape and be as strong as he can be. And that’s the first step for every guy. And the message, even to our veterans, is that you have to be ready to put your best foot forward from the first day. I’m confident Elias will do that and that will give him the best chance to succeed. But training camp is hard and there might be some days when he’s tired. There is a lot more one-one-one battling in an NHL training camp than he’s probably seen over in Sweden. But the one thing about good players is that they figure it out.”

What Green hasn’t yet figured out is where he’ll use Pettersson at least to start his NHL career. Drafted as a centre and projected to eventually line-up in the middle for the Canucks - the Sundsvall, Sweden native spent much of this past season on the right side both at even strength and while running the Vaxjo power-play.

Green figures he’ll experiment with Pettersson and get a long look at him in both positions through camp and the pre-season.

“I think it’s a bit of a wait and see,” the coach explains. “He could end up coming in and playing centre right away. We know he’s capable of playing both. We want to put this guy in a position to succeed. Even though sometimes people don’t always agree with it, we’re always trying to put players in positions to succeed – not just for that day and that week, but long term. We want to give him power play time. We want to give him areas of the ice he can produce. But it’s one step at a time. Obviously, he’s got to come to camp and we’ll get him plenty of ice time and we’ll figure it out as we go.”

There are already questions about Pettersson’s ability to adjust and adapt to North American life and whether his skill set will translate to smaller ice surfaces over here. To that end, he has played in a pair of World Junior Championships on this side of the Atlantic and spent a week at Canucks Development Camp after last year’s draft so he been exposed to NHL rinks.

Green figures Pettersson’s high hockey IQ will allow him to make the transition seamlessly. The coach also downplays any discussion about Pettersson’s slight frame – he was drafted at 168 pounds but is now listed closer to 180 – pointing to a growing list of smaller players coming up big for their respective NHL teams.

From Patrick Kane to Johnny Gaudreau to Jonathan Marchessault to Clayton Keller, all have shown an ability to excel and produce despite facing concerns about their size.

“They read the game, anticipate plays better than guys and use their hockey sense to their advantage,” Green says. “Look at Kane or Gaudreau, they might not be the biggest guys, but they have plenty of strength and win their share of loose puck battles. And I believe Pettersson will be alright. But there will be sometimes when he might look a little weaker, but that’s okay. It’s up to us to make sure we do right by this guy. He has a chance to be a real special player and a guy we can have in our organization for a long, long time.”

With a year on the job giving him a better understanding of the demands of the Vancouver hockey market, Green knows expectations in this city will be lofty for Pettersson. The coach watched the way the fanbase embraced Brock Boeser during his remarkable rookie season and feels strongly that Pettersson will be treated the same way.

With 29 goals and a Rookie of the Year nomination, Boeser proved the impact a young player can have on a franchise in his first year in the league. Perhaps that makes life easier for Pettersson coming into a setting where he can use Boeser as a sounding board for everything he’ll face in his first trip around the league. The counter to that argument though is that Boeser has set the bar remarkably high for those who follow in his footsteps.

Pettersson could produce 40 points, which would qualify as a highly-successful first NHL season and yet it wouldn’t compare to the 55 points Boeser amassed in just 62 games before his rookie campaign was cut short by a back injury.

Green understands that, through no fault of his own, Pettersson will be subjected to comparisons to Boeser.

“I think it’s good talking material among fans and rightly so, but once a player gets into the action they’re worried about themselves and what they can do,” Green says of wanting Pettersson to play his own game. “He’s not going to feel the heat that he has to do what Brock did. He doesn’t need to be our saviour right away. There is a lot of hype on this guy and even though I think he’s very mature, that’s a lot for a young guy and we have to be sure we handle that well and help him through that. But it’s hard not to get excited about a guy that had the season he did.”

Green’s excitement grows by the day as he works on plans for training camp in September. Getting the chance to slot Pettersson into the line-up would bring a smile to any coach’s face. Green will join the Canucks entourage at the draft in Dallas next week and after that he’ll try to squeeze in some summer downtime with his family before ramping up his workload for his second season behind the bench.

And he’s also looking to chat with Pettersson at some point soon. However, Green is discovering what Swedish Hockey League defenders discovered on the ice this season, the youngster is not an easy guy to track down.

“We’ve been texting back and forth,” Green laughs. “We planned on catching up after the season and then he made the World Championship team. And when he got hurt (broken thumb), I texted him and told him to get his surgery and heal up. We just haven’t connected yet, but I’m sure we will this week. I tried calling him, but those European phone numbers...I dialled, and it wouldn’t go through.”

Soon enough Travis Green figures he’ll get Elias Pettersson on the line. After that, it’s all about the coach getting the prize prospect on a line to showcase his abundant skills as he begins his career as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. The fan base can’t wait. Neither can Green.