From July 5 to 8, Elias Pettersson put on the first “EP40 Skills Camp” in his hometown of Ånge, a community of around 3,000 people in central Sweden.
He’s not doing it for the money. In March, Pettersson signed an eight-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks worth $92.8 million US, but he’s never forgotten his humble beginnings.
“Mainly I want to give back to Ånge, all the money goes to them,” he said in an interview with local media outlet Sundsvalls tidning and reported on numerous other Swedish sites. “But then I want to offer kids to come here and teach them. Things that we teach here are things that I have practised every summer.”
The camp seems to have been well-received by local young players who attended and their parents, some of whom shared photos and thoughts on social media.
“My favorite hockey player got to hang out with his favorite hockey player this weekend,” one mother posted on Instagram.
“There are many who look good, I think,” he said about the young players in camp. “Everyone eats and everyone listens. It’s the first time I get to act as a coach, if you can call it that. I thought it would be hard, but I think it's been great fun.”
His long-term signing indicates he’s happy in Vancouver, both on and off the ice, and he expressed as much in the interview.
“Life in Vancouver is great,” said Pettersson. “We have something good going on now. We have very good players, good coaches, our new general manager Patrick Allvin, and since president Jim Rutherford came here, the club has been turned upside down for the better. We were close to reaching the conference final this past season, but now it’s just a matter of building on it.”