Vancouver Canucks' Jim Rutherford Not Confident Elias Pettersson Will Bounce Back Like Everyone Expects

""Elias is one of the most complex, exciting but also most elusive players I have ever come into contact with. A top athlete combined with a great artist. He can do things out on the ice that no other player in the entire world can do. Things that are almost difficult to discover and understand sometimes. Challenging Elias as a skills coach is difficult. I feel a tension, almost a little nervousness, before all our sessions together as I know that I am facing a challenging situation as a coach. I have to deliver at my top level. And I love that nerve.

And this summer has been awesome! Elias is stronger physically than ever before but above all there is now a balance between his physical and technical skill set. One of the strongest memories from our summer together is when his hip and upper body 'clicked'. With that, so many pieces fell into place. He takes on speed and power with smoothness. His flow is on 🔥!" Daniel Broberg said on Instagram.

"He needs to be a good two-way player. He's our number-one centre, he's going to be matched up against the other teams' best players all the time, and in the early going he's done a good job on the defensive side of the puck." Rutherford said.

He added, "But I agree with what you're saying, we feel the same way, coming off the year he had he's not going to flip the switch and all of a sudden get 110 points again, although he's capable, he has the skill level to do that. But we'll really look at his two-way play and how the team ends up doing is going to be important as to the impact that he has, and it's more about can he impact the games at the right time? It's not about whether he gets 100 points, can he be a difference maker? We know he can, we'll see if he can do that."