Elias Pettersson revealed he has been dealing with a knee injury since January.
Elias Pettersson revealed he has been dealing with a knee injury since January.
During the Vancouver Canucks year-end media availability, Elias Pettersson revealed that he had been dealing with a knee injury since January. While Pettersson did not go into detail about the specifics of the injury, head coach Rick Tocchet mentioned that the Canucks star was dealing with tendinitis. If Pettersson was dealing with tendinitis, it explains why he saw a significant dip in production late in the season and why he struggled to perform in the postseason.
Before looking at Pettersson's numbers, some background information on tendinitis is needed. According to John Hopkin's Medicine, tendinitis or tendonitis is "when a tendon is inflamed. It can happen to any tendon in the body. When a tendon is inflamed, it can cause swelling, pain, and discomfort." This lines up with Pettersson's explanation of a knee injury that kept getting more painful the longer the season progressed. While there are treatments, the best option for Pettersson may be to rest his knee as much as possible as he gets ready for the start of the 2024-25 season.
As mentioned, Pettersson says he started having knee issues in January. Using January 15 as a marker, it is clear that this injury affected Pettersson's game. He saw his points per game decrease from 1.32 to 0.89, and his shots per game go from 2.80 to 2.23. As for the postseason, in 13 games, Pettersson finished with 0.46 points per game as well as 1.69 shots per game, leading to widespread criticism before the extent of his injury was known.
While we may never know the severity of the pain Pettersson was dealing with, pain in the knee can impact a player's shooting and accuracy. If a player can't get their feet set or bend their knees properly, it can alter the speed, velocity and direction of a shot. This could also help explain why Pettersson saw an increase in missed shots after January and finished the postseason with almost as many missed shots (19) as shots on target (22).
Ultimately, this injury should be used as a learning lesson for both Pettersson and the team. While winning a division title is important, it may have been beneficial for Vancouver to rest Pettersson down the stretch rather than playing him in all 82 games. For right now, however, the hope is Pettersson gets enough rest and treatment during the offseason that he is able to get back on track and finish next season in the conversation for multiple year-end awards.
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