Canucks Elias Pettersson says he played with ‘bad knee’ injury since January 

The Vancouver Canucks were eliminated in Game 7 of the second round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. 

Thursday, the Canucks went through their final round of press conferences. One player that was particularly interesting was forward Elias Pettersson, who confirmed that he had been playing through an injury since January.

“I’ve been playing with a bad knee since January,” he said. “It’s been a nagging injury, so the longer it went, the more pain I felt.”  

Pettersson had an excellent start to this season. But his production steadily declined as we got closer to the playoffs. Since the NHL All-Star break in early February, the 25-year-old center recorded 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) and was plus-4 in 33 games, 95th among skaters. Not at all horrible. But when you look at his 1.31 points per game up until that point, it is a clear decline. 

For the first four months of the season, Pettersson continued his blistering pace from the 2022-23 season, when he finished with 102 points (39 goals, 63 assists) in 80 games.

In 49 games, Pettersson racked up 64 points (27 goals, 37 assists). He ranked eighth among all skaters and was plus-16. 

In the playoffs, he was mostly stifled, finishing with only six points (one goal, five assists) in 13 postseason games.

When asked if the injury needed any sort of surgery or further examination, Pettersson said: 

“No, just needs time. Time to heal, time to rest.” 

Pettersson signed an eight-year, $92.8 million contract extension with Vancouver in March. The deal comes with an average annual value of $11.6 million. Pettersson has played all six seasons of his NHL career with Canucks, recording 412 points (170 goals, 242 assists) and plus-56 rating in 407 games.