The Vancouver Canucks picked up a 2-1 victory over the league-leading Washington Capitals on Saturday evening and it was a particular evening for defenceman Elias Pettersson, who made his NHL debut.
“It was lots of enjoyable, and I used to be simply attempting to benefit from the second,” mentioned Pettersson. “Yeah, I am actually blissful.”
D-Petey, as he’s referred to as across the locker room, was chosen within the third spherical of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and performed in eight AHL video games final season. He has performed in 36 AHL video games this 12 months and has one aim and twelve assists whereas consuming up a ton of minutes on the penalty kill.
Earlier than we started recording our interview, D-Petey requested in regards to the end result for the Abbotsford Canucks as they received their eighth recreation in a row with a 6-2 shellacking of the Tucson Roadrunners. No group is hotter within the AHL than Abbotsford and so they journey to Coachella Valley for a Wednesday recreation to wrap up a three-game highway journey earlier than returning to the Abbotsford Centre on Friday.
Pettersson spoke about experiencing the NHL first-hand and the variations that he felt between the NHL and AHL.
“I imply, it is completely different from down within the AHL, however yeah, assume I slot in fairly good in my first couple of shifts. I feel I grew into the sport an increasing number of, and simply having these guys round you, it is helped a lot too. They talked rather a lot, and it helped me rather a lot. So yeah, it feels good to have them assist me. It was a terrific recreation,” mentioned Pettersson.
“It was enjoyable to play at this degree, that is the place you need to play in and as I mentioned earlier than, I’ll do the whole lot to play right here full-time in the future. I realized that it’s important to be prepared each shift. Tonight, I felt like I stored it fairly easy, however realized that it’s important to be able to go on each shift.”
Pettersson gave credit score to assistant coach Adam Foote for making him really feel snug within the recreation plan and laying out the expectations for the 20-year-old defender.
Canucks’ captain Quinn Hughes spoke to the media following Saturday evening’s recreation and gave a glowing evaluate on Pettersson whereas being excited to see him proceed to develop.
“He can skate, he’s received good measurement, [and is a] aggressive, good child, and he will play a very long time,” mentioned Hughes. “That is the beginning of hopefully an extended profession for him, and it isn’t straightforward coming in with how the final couple of video games have gone. I assumed he did properly, and particularly a participant like him, he’s simply going to proceed to get higher and higher, and particularly with Footy again there, the way in which he can propel guys’ growth. He would possibly pop prior to you would possibly assume.”
Pettersson performed 14 shifts for 10:37 of ice time and had two hits and a blocked shot within the recreation. He was on the ice for one aim scored and nil objectives towards.
