Gretzky sees some of himself in Canucks rookie Pettersson

Elias Pettersson reminds Wayne Gretzky a lot of one of the greatest players in NHL history -- himself.

"From my point of view, he's got a lot of my similarities," Gretzky said about the Vancouver Canucks rookie on Sportsnet Radio 650 in Vancouver on Monday. "His hockey sense and his playmaking ability are as good as anybody right now, and that's probably where the comparisons come from -- much more the playmaking than anything else."
Pettersson, who turned 20 on Monday, scored 10 goals in his first 10 NHL. He leads NHL rookies in scoring with 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 12 games entering Vancouver's game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, SNP, NHL.TV). He is the fifth player after the NHL's inaugural season in 1917-18 and the first since 1992-93 to score at least 10 goals in his first 10 NHL games.
Gretzky said the arrival of Pettersson the season following the retirements of Henrik and Daniel Sedin is a boon for the Canucks, who haven't qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2014-15.
"I've had a chance to see him a couple of times on TV. He's fun to watch and plays with a great deal of passion and energy," Gretzky said. "It's exactly what the people in Vancouver needed to sort of move on from the Sedin era. It's been a godsend for the coaching staff because he's very coachable. He's done a lot of good things for that organization already."

Gretzky, the leading scorer in NHL history, said he also sees similarities between Pettersson and Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby.
"We're lucky that guys like [Toronto Maple Leafs center] Auston Matthews and [Colorado Avalanche center] Nathan MacKinnon and of course [Edmonton Oilers center] Connor McDavid now have come along. They seem to be that new breed of player that's maybe be a little bit bigger, a little bit faster, a different kind of player than a guy like Sidney played," he said. "A guy like Pettersson plays more along the lines of the way Sidney plays and the way I played in that he's got to utilize his eyes and his hockey sense and rely on his instinctability on the ice. He's not a big guy [6-foot-2, 176 pounds]; Sidney [5-11, 200 pounds] was by no means a big man either. But his hockey sense; Sidney always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else."
But in the end, Gretzky said, winning the Stanley Cup is what matters most.
"To me, the best guys are the guys who win championships," said Gretzky, who won the Stanley Cup four times with the Edmonton Oilers. "Ultimately as a leader and a guy who wins MVPs and wins scoring titles -- that's all gravy. But at the end of the day, it's all about lifting the Stanley Cup.
"Pettersson is a young kid right now. He's very young, it's a young organization in Vancouver, they've done a lot of great things over the last 12 months. I'm sure the people in Vancouver have to be very excited about the destination of that hockey club. There seems to be a very strong, good direction for that hockey club, and that's great for Vancouver."