Elias Pettersson has gone from one of the biggest headaches in fantasy hockey to one of the first names worth circling for a sell-high move.
That’s the kind of turnaround the Vancouver Canucks center has delivered over the first month-plus of the season. After two rough years that left him looking nothing like the player fantasy managers expected, Pettersson is back to producing at a pace that feels much closer to his old standard. He has 18 points in 18 games, which not only puts him on track for his best season in years, but also gives him a team lead by three points despite Vancouver’s struggles.
The case for dealing him now came up on Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, where host Tyler Yaremchuk and Daily Faceoff Managing Fantasy Editor Brock Seguin dug into whether this is the right moment to cash out before the numbers cool off.
“Anyone who you’re looking at through this first month, and going like alright, that’s a fun first 15-20 games, but maybe if you had him on your team, you’d try to do a little sell high?”
Seguin pointed straight at Pettersson, while making clear he was talking about the center and not the defenseman. He called the early production a nice story, but said he doesn’t believe it will hold.
“I think it’s interesting and I guess nice to see him back at a point per game thus far. It’s a good story. The Canucks are at least fun, scoring some goals, but I just don’t think this is going to last.”
His biggest concern is that the underlying numbers point toward regression. Seguin noted that the Canucks have scored 10.4 goals above expected with Pettersson on the ice this season, the sixth-highest mark among forwards, and said that number is likely to come down. If it does, Pettersson’s assist rate should follow.
He also flagged the shot profile as a warning sign. Pettersson is averaging just 3.3 shot attempts per game and only 1.3 shots on goal per game, which Seguin described as “super, super brutal.” The quality of those chances hasn’t helped either, with Seguin saying the looks he’s getting are not high-danger opportunities.
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