NHL

Are we overhyping Elias Pettersson? The Vancouver Canucks rookie played his first NHL game on Wednesday against the Calgary Flames. He scores a beautiful goal down the rush which put the fans out of their seats. He added an assist for Nikolay Goldobin’s goal with a sweet pass. Two points despite playing only ten minutes.

Pettersson is probably the Canucks most hyped rookie since Pavel Bure came into the league in 1991-1992. He is even more hyped than Brock Boeser was last season.

Today on Sportsnet 650’s morning show, Sportsnet 650 insider John Shannon said this.

Now, this raised a lot of eyebrows in Canucks Nation. Shannon was comparing Elias Pettersson to The Great One Himself, Wayne Gretzky.  Elias Pettersson broke many records in the SHL last season and was named Swedish Player of the year. That includes all Swedish players, from all leagues including the NHL.

This isn’t the first time Elias Pettersson has been compared to greats before. He has been compared to Peter Forsberg, Henrik Sedin ahttps://twitter.com/manny_hockey/status/1048404211644420102nd Markus Naslund.

Thoughts

I can get why Elias Pettersson is getting all the hype. The Canucks have been a terrible team for the last few years and there haven’t been many bright spots. Pettersson is a symbol of hope for Canucks fans. His record-breaking season in Sweden raised hairs. Here was a potential superstar in the making. One that could bring fans out of their seats every night and be a fan favorite.

Are we overhyping Elias Pettersson? We kind of are. He played one game and Shannon has to compare him to Gretzky.  I agree that Pettersson has Gretzky like vision sense and hockey sense but Gretzky is on a totally different level. Gretzky broke records that will never be broken. He played the game in ways that shaped the modern game. It is still too early to compare Pettersson to great players of the past. He just played one NHL game! Just wait until he is in the prime career of his career or near the end of it, then we will start comparing him to the greats.

Yes, I know, scouts and analysts compare young to players to NHL Players but comparing a guy who has only played one NHL game to arguably the greatest player is a step too far. Yes, it is nice to compare players but each player has their own unique style and skill set.

Elias Pettersson will be a great player for years to come. The hype is understandable but let’s not compare him to the greats just yet.

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