Canucks' Pettersson Quiets Trade Talk In Award-Worthy Win Against Maple Leafs: "A Couple Guys On The Bench Were Yelling ‘Selke!' "

What a strange season it has been for Elias Pettersson.

With every day that passes, there’s seemingly a new allegation suggesting that Vancouver’s highest-paid player cannot stand to be in the same room as the team’s second-highest player, J.T. Miller, fuelling speculation that one — if not both — of them will soon be traded.

However, if Pettersson wants out, he has a funny way of showing it.

On Saturday, with the team arriving in Toronto only hours before the puck drop due to their flight being grounded because of bad weather the night before in Carolina, Pettersson had what his coach described as one of his “best games of the year” and what his teammates were calling award-worthy.

Pettersson had one assist but no shots in the 3-0 win against the Maple Leafs, but he made up for the lack of offense with five blocked shots and an overall high defensive effort that didn’t go unnoticed.

“He was amazing,” Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said. “A couple guys on the bench were yelling ‘Selke!’ after one of the shifts in the third.”

When asked what he thought of his teammates’ high praise, Pettersson deadpanned: “Well, it's the first time I've heard it this year.”

Indeed, what Pettersson has heard this season has been mostly negativity.

'Petey,' as his teammates call him, has been called everything from “petty” by fans to “soft” by reporters. To his biggest critics, he’s the main reason there is a reported rift with Miller and why the Canucks, who led the Pacific Division last season, are suddenly playing for their playoff lives as the second wild-card team this year.

Even his most ardent supporters will admit that Pettersson hasn’t been playing like someone who was rewarded with an eight-year extension worth $92.8 million. Not with Pettersson ranking outside the NHL's top 100 with 29 points in 36 games or with five others on the team having scored more than his 10 goals this season.

“I’m just trying to be myself out there,” said Pettersson. “Trying to be reliable at both ends. When it’s my time to step up for something, I’m always going to do it. Defense leads to offense. I’m going to do everything I can to not let the puck go into our net.”

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Don’t expect one game to make the supposed problems go away. Or for the trade speculation to die down. If anything, this will only make it ramp up. In the past week alone, Pettersson’s name has been linked to Boston, Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers. Even more teams are probably in the mix. And why wouldn’t they be.

At his best, Pettersson is one of the top centers in the NHL. As he showed against the Leafs, he’s not only a potential Selke Trophy contender, but he has the ability to become a league MVP. The problem is, he doesn’t always look like he wants to be either.

That’s why the Canucks probably won’t trade him. They know that they are a better team with Pettersson on the roster than in some imagined trade scenario. The challenge for Tocchet, who shuffled his lines on Saturday and had Pettersson playing with Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser, is to get more games like this out of his two highest-paid forwards.

“I mean, they know it,” Tocchet said of Pettersson and Miller. “They know that for us to be successful, they're going to have to score some goals for us. But also, like, I think they're happy because we played a smart game. We got timely goals. But I think they all played good defense, too.

“He battled. It was very noticeable. He was very engaged, and it's great to see. When he plays like that... that's why he's one of the top players.”

Correction: Pettersson did have an assist in the game.

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