A quick Twitter search of Elias Pettersson’s name will tell you everything you need to know about the hype train around the Vancouver Canucks' rookie.
The reigning SHL Rookie of the Year, Top Forward and MVP of the SHL made his pre-season debut on Tuesday night in the Canucks 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
The final scores generally don’t matter during the exhibition season, as it’s merely time for fans and organizations around the league to see evaluate the organization's top prospects will match up against.
Well, the 19-year-old was everything Canucks fans hoped for, as he showed instant chemistry with Nikolay Goldobin and finished the night with one assist. But don’t let the score sheet fool you: Pettersson could’ve easily had more points on the night if it wasn’t for Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot playing lights out hockey.
At one point, he broke Ryan Strome’s ankles with a ridiculous toe-drag that made the Strome look like it was his first game in the NHL, not Pettersson’s.
After the game, media members caught up with the Canucks’ prized prospect and asked what it was like stepping onto the ice at Rogers Arena for the first time in game action against another NHL squad.
With much debate in the hockey community over the last few months on younger players spending too much time playing video games like Fornite, Pettersson dropped a video game reference to The Province’s Patrick Johnston that may or may not have been trolling the sport’s old-school culture that’s resistant to video games.
“I was thinking of when I was younger and playing video games, said Pettersson to a scrum of reporters.
“It was (EA Sports) NHL and I was dreaming of being a player. To play this first game here in Vancouver, it’s a dream come true.”
If you played the game growing up, then chances are you can relate.
A couple weeks back, Pettersson was one of ten rookies to have the highest ratings in EA Sports NHL 19.
Rated a 78, if Pettersson keeps of showing off his elite skill set, his rating will continue to climb the ranks, leaving many pundits to say that Pettersson could be a front-runner for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.
