BURSTIf the whispers of tension within the Vancouver Canucks‘ locker room are, in fact, true, Elias Pettersson isn’t going to give that away with his words.
His body language and tone, however, might tell a different story.
Following a 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, which extended Vancouver’s losing streak to three games and dropped it to 4-7 in December, Pettersson was clearly frustrated in his post-game availability with reporters — especially when the topic of his rumoured conflict with J.T. Miller came up.
“That’s still going on?” Pettersson replied when asked about the potential friction. “Well, it’s the same answer. It’s good. I don’t know why people still try and make (expletive) up.”
A reporter followed up on the 26-year-old’s answer by asking if the rumours had been distracting. To which Pettersson answered, “Oh my God. Next question,” leaving the scrum quickly when there was nothing else asked.
Pettersson went pointless in the loss to Ottawa, recording a minus-1 rating and one shot on goal. He now has 26 points and eight goals through 33 games in the 2024-25 campaign, well below the 1.17 point-per-game pace he’s maintained over both of the past two seasons. His last goal and point came on Dec. 10 against St. Louis, a drought which now sits at six games.
The Swedish centre was also asked if there is some sense of growing pressure as both he and the team endure what has been a disappointing season to date.
“Yeah, I mean sure. I wish I had three goals every game,” Pettersson said. “Obviously, points don’t come easy now, and then again, I don’t think about points. Obviously, I want to score points, but I worry more about wins and being a good teammate and playing like a good team.”
Earlier Saturday, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet and captain Quin Hughes addressed the situation, downplaying any possible strain in the two forward’s relationship.
But after the game, Brock Boeser got his chance to weigh in on the situation, as well.
“To be honest, I didn’t really know there was a story,” the long-time Canuck said. “I’m not on Twitter or anything, so I don’t see that stuff.
“I heard some rumblings of that stuff, but no. We’re here to win hockey games and they both know that, and I think the communication has gotten better. We just gotta stick together and worry about winning hockey games… We gotta come to the rink and work harder, and that’s really it right now.”
As the saying goes, “Winning fixes everything,” but if this slide continues in Vancouver, the dark cloud of unrest seems unlikely to part anytime soon.
