Canucks coach Adam Foote explains why Elias Pettersson’s 5-on-5 ice time has been limited
Vancouver Canucks head coach Adam Foote spoke to the media Thursday, and addressed his decision to give Elias Pettersson the least amount of 5-on-5 ice time among centers in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“There’s always going to be adjustments depending on your injuries and depending who your opponent is.”
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“Can you give me his ice time on the special teams?” Foote asked a reporter who questioned the coach about Pettersson’s ice time. “He had eight minutes on special teams. So when you’re playing eight minutes on special teams, mainly because of our injuries, and those are harder minutes, and then you take the three games in three and a half days… you try to manage hard penalty kill minutes, hard PK, 1:20 shifts.
“You’re trying to manage a guy physically, not put him in a place to get injured either. You’re playing those hard minutes in a game you want to win to the end. And we’re always in striking distance even at 5-1. We’re thinking about it like we gave him a couple more offensive draws or things like that to see if we get a quick one.”
Pettersson played 4:47 on the powerplay and 2:28 on the penalty kill against the Penguins, adding up to 7:15 of special teams ice time. He played under 10 minutes at even strength.
“Harder minutes are, in my opinion, are going to be special team minutes, which his are up from last year,” Foote said. “So if we really want to dig in it, he’s probably a minute on average less at 5-on-5 this year, but probably two minutes if we really focus on the PK of the last three or four games compared to the first three where he’s more of a PK guy. We wanted to get him in gradually so he wouldn’t get caught where you have to go learn it when you play it.”
While Foote’s explanation of offsetting Petterson’s lack of even-strength ice time with more special-teams minutes may make sense, it’s clear that the Canucks haven’t been relying on Pettersson the way many team’s rely on their top-line centers. So far this season, the fifth-overall pick from 2017 is averaging the least amount of total ice time in his career, at just less than 18 minutes per game.
For comparison, star centers such as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Nathan MacKinnon are all averaging well over 20 minutes per game. Pettersson, who is in the second season of an eight-year, $92.8 million contract, is third among forwards on his own team in average ice time, behind Conor Garland and Brock Boeser.
The Canucks will finish up a five-game road trip against the Nashville Predators on Thursday, and then kick off a three-game homestand against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.