Elias Pettersson keeps moving up the Vancouver Canucks record book, and this latest climb comes on the defensive side of the puck.
The Canucks center has now piled up 501 blocked shots in his career after recording two in Sunday’s loss. That makes him only the second forward in franchise history to reach 500, and it puts him 25 away from passing Ryan Kesler for the most blocked shots by a forward in team history. Kesler finished his Canucks run with 525 blocks in 655 games, while Pettersson has reached 501 in 558 games.
Pettersson is already well established among Vancouver’s offensive leaders, sitting inside the franchise top 10 in goals, assists and points. Now he’s adding another layer to his legacy with a number that reflects his work away from the puck.
There is some context to the blocked-shot chase, though. The NHL did not begin officially tracking the stat until the 2005-06 season.
Since then, the league’s all-time mark for forwards belongs to Joe Pavelski, who finished with 1,139. Pettersson is currently tied for 92nd all-time among forwards with Joel Ward, Vernon Fiddler and Sean Couturier.
He still has a much bigger mountain to climb if he’s going to challenge the Canucks’ overall franchise record. That one belongs to Alex Edler, who blocked 1,762 shots during his Vancouver career. Even so, Pettersson is already eighth all-time in team history and is closing in on Mattias Öhlund, who recorded 519 blocked shots for the Canucks.
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