When the Vancouver Canucks posted a photo to celebrate Sweden's win over the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off, they couldn't have picked a more appropriate picture of Elias Pettersson. He was on the bench, congratulating someone else on actually accomplishing something on the ice.
Pettersson was quiet throughout the tournament; on Monday, he was utterly silent. His stat line on the night was full of zeroes: zero goals, zero assists, zero shots on goal, zero hits, and zero blocked shots. He even went 0-for-2 on faceoffs.
After being benched for most of the third period, Pettersson finished the game with just 9:54 in ice time, the lowest among Swedish forwards. The only skater who played less was Mattias Ekholm, who has been battling the flu and was dressed as the seventh defenceman.
To be fair, the game between Sweden and the U.S. was largely meaningless. Sweden's fate at the tournament had already been decided by Canada's win over Finland earlier in the day. They couldn't make the championship game no matter the result, while the U.S. had already secured their berth with regulation wins over Finland and Canada and rested a few key players. It was still a spirited game but nowhere near the intensity of the games on the weekend.
But Pettersson didn't do much in any of the games. He had just two shots on goal total in his three games, while averaging 13:32 in ice time. It wasn't quite the confidence booster that the Canucks were hoping for.
"I want him to go represent his country and go have fun with his countrymen. Just have fun. Try stuff," said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet before the tournament. "Hopefully, in that tournament, hanging out with his buddies rejuvenates his whole demeanour.”
Whether his demeanour is changed on his return to Vancouver remains to be seen but those who were hoping the tournament might be a chance for a reset for Pettersson — I'm not going to lie, I was among them — were sorely disappointed.
Whatever's ailing Pettersson, be it mental, physical, or spiritual, was still ailing him at the 4 Nations Face-Off. He looked about the same for Sweden as he has all season for the Canucks: sharp defensively but completely non-existent offensively.
The hopeless optimism that Pettersson might have looked different in an international competition against even fiercer competition brings to mind an Adam Sandler character on Saturday Night Live: an Italian travel agent who informs disappointed tourists that "if you are sad where you are and then you get on a plane to Italy, the you in Italy will be the same sad you from before, just in a new place."
In this case, the same underwhelming Pettersson from Vancouver was at the 4 Nations Face-Off, just in a Swedish jersey.
As for whether fans should be concerned about his performance for Sweden, they shouldn't be any more concerned than they were prior to the tournament. If anything, there's a certain comfort in knowing that whatever is affecting Pettersson, even if it's his own malaise, affected him even when he was representing his country. Whatever's going on, it's not a case of Pettersson simply not putting in the effort for the Canucks.
At least Sweden won a game, even if Pettersson had precious little to do with it. In fact, Sweden finished the tournament without a single regulation loss. They took Canada and Finland to overtime, then beat the U.S. in regulation. For their efforts, they officially finished third in the four-team tournament, ahead of their fiercest rival, Finland.
Even that comes with a sour taste, as Finland won their head-to-head matchup. It's hard to enjoy the consolation prize of beating the U.S. in a game the U.S. didn't care about.
There was also no payoff to the undercard of Pettersson facing his former teammate, J.T. Miller, for the first time since Miller was traded to the New York Rangers. Pettersson and Miller spent little to no time on the ice against each other, not that there was ever much of a chance of the two squaring off over anything other than a faceoff. They did do that just once, with Miller winning the draw.
Miller, for what it's worth, also has no points and just two shots on goal in three games this tournament, but his Team USA is going to the championship game.
