Elias Pettersson continues to prove why he's arguably the best prospect in the game of hockey by dominating the SHL.
After leading the SHL in scoring with 56 points, which set a new record for most points scored by a U20 player in a SHL regular season, the Canucks 1st round pick, 5th overall, in the 2017 NHL Draft upped his game once again. On Sunday, Pettersson and the Vaxjo Lakers wrapped up their season in style by capturing the SHL Championship, and it was Pettersson leading the charge.
With the game scorless in the second period, Pettersson stripped a defender of the puck at their blue line, beforing walking up with a burst of speed and absouetly dangling the Skelleftea goaltender.
Dirty dangles indeed.This GIF does better justice.
But he wasn’t done there, as drew on the scoresheet again by going short side just underneath the goaltender’s right pad on a breakaway.
The opening goal scored by Pettersson would go on to be the game-winner, as Vaxjo went on to win the game 5-0, completing the 4-0 sweep over Skelleftea. With a total of 19 points in 13 playoff games, including 10 points in four games during the championship series, Pettersson was named playoff MVP. He also set a SHL playoff record for the most points scored by a U20 player.
Canucks fans, you have a helluva prospect on your hands.
It’s expected that Pettersson will be in competition to make the Swedish World Championship team. Maybe we’ll see more goals like this in the coming weeks if he makes the club like he did in the World Juniors.
There’s a very good chance you could be seeing Pettersson in a Canucks uniform next fall, and it’s not hard to understand why considering he produced at a higher rate than Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Nicklas Backstrom and the Sedin twins.
