Canucks: Why blueliner with bite fits Elias Pettersson’s career flight

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It was like a scene out of The Godfather.

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There was franchise legend Kevin Bieksa holding court with young and impressionable Vancouver Canucks defencemen Elias Pettersson, Zeev Buium and Tom Willander during a sunny Sunday afternoon on a Kitsilano restaurant deck.

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Imagine what an engaging Bieksa, the long-serving Canucks defenceman turned educational and entertaining Hockey Night In Canada analyst, could impart about making your way in the demanding NHL?

After all, his tenaciousness, toughness, willingness to fight and going-down-with-the-ship mentality were his trademarks. He once told this reporter that his gift of gab wasn’t designed to be a springboard to TV.

“I never thought I’d be in media,” admitted Bieksa. “I know some people thought it would be natural, but I never thought that. When I first stopped playing, I told myself, and I had some good advice, that I’m not going to say no to anybody. I’m going to try everything once.”

And Pettersson is the latest to benefit from some sage advice.

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“It was great and actually the first time I met him,” Pettersson said of the conversation following practice Monday. “Great lunch. Great guy. I had a good time. We talked about everything. The new culture we’re getting here on the team and the old stories he had.”

Bieksa also picked up the tab.

Pettersson, 22, along with Buium, 20, and Willander, 21, are too young to recall the rambunctious Bieksa willingly dragging the Canucks into the fight and scoring the winning goal to propel his club into the 2011 Stanley Cup Final series.

However, word gets around and there’s plenty of video evidence about Bieksa’s pugnacious nature that included dropping the gloves on instinct or planned aggression.

“I would like to say I remember a lot, but I don’t,” admitted Pettersson. “But he was more like a player I want to be and I want to play hard. I haven’t got into a fight this year, but I’m ready if it happens.”

Pettersson plays an aggressive and improving game and it shouldn’t be surprising. It was evident at his initial Canucks development camp where he skated well, moved pucks with authority and dished out heavy hits with a resounding thud.

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“I always had that competitiveness and wanted to be involved in everything that happens out there,” stressed Pettersson.

That includes a year ago in Calgary when the 6-foot-3, 209 pound Vasteras, Sweden, native made quite the impression as a 2022 third-round NHL Draft choice.

Pettersson delivered a heavy and clean defensive zone check on charging Flames centre Nazem Kadri in the opening period of a Canucks’ 4-3 shootout victory. He then absorbed a cheap shot when Connor Zary responded to the hit with a vicious elbow to the back of his head.

Pettersson was done after just 4:06 of ice time, and was evaluated for an injury that could have been anything from a concussion to something more serious. He missed just two games and Zary was suspended for two games.

As impressive as that hit was, Canucks head coach Adam Foote doesn’t want Pettersson to go headhunting for big hits that aren’t a result of board battles or boxing out down low.

“He’s done a pretty good job, but I’m not a big believer in open-ice hits,” said Foote. “I don’t like that and didn’t when I played and never got a lot of them. You play against top lines and teams are too good and they just dodge it and go down on odd-man rushes.

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“I’ve seen disasters happen. The game is too fast and you can get injuries. It’s so completely overrated. It’s below the top of the circles, the corners and front of the net when it’s time to be hard on guys and he (Pettersson) has done a really good job with it. He’s learning.”

Add it all up and Pettersson is pumped about what awaits.

The young defensive core is a key element to the roster rebuild and enthusiasm easily trumps any trepidation about losses because he knows it’s part of the growing process. Mistakes are going to occur and learning from them is a path to future success.

And that creates the right vibe.

“I would say it’s exciting,” summed up Pettersson, whose advancement is on fast-forward in a first pairing with veteran Filip Hronek. “Everyone in here wants to get better, especially us defencemen as a young group.

“We compete hard in practice and want the best out of each other all the time. If we keep doing that, we’re going to be tighter as a group. I feel like from the start of the season until now, I’ve settled it down a little bit. I think I rushed a lot of plays in the beginning of the season.

“Of course, there are going to be ups and down, but lately I feel like I’m calmer and better at moving the puck.”

Pettersson grew up admiring countrymen Erik Karlsson, Nicklas Lidstrom and Victor Hedman and now looks up to former Canucks blueliner Gustav Forsling of the Florida Panthers, a good puck-mover who is strong defensively.

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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