Since inking his enormous deal on March 2nd, Pettersson has merely been a shadow of himself. Since the playoffs started, he only managed 4 points in 10 games, and the people surrounding the Canucks are starting to be concerned.
On Donnie and Dhali earlier today, Rick Dhaliwal compared Elias Pettersson's new contract to Loui Eriksson's deal. For those with a short memory, the Canucks' GM then, Jim Benning, gave Eriksson $36M over six years. With the Canucks, Eriksson's best season came in year 3 of his contract when he registered 29 points.
At this point, comparing these two deals seems like an enormous stretch. Eriksson was 31 when the Canucks inked him to 6 years, whereas Pettersson hasn't even turned 26 yet.
While his recent playoff performances have cost the team, there shouldn't be too much concern after only one playoff stretch. Given what he's shown over the past two seasons, Pettey has demonstrated his ability to take over a game, and it should only be a matter of time until he learns to translate that ability to the playoffs when the games matter the most.
