Rookie superstar Elias Pettersson on the verge of passing an NHL legend.

In case you have not noticed, this Elias Pettersson kid playing for the Vancouver Canucks is pretty good. 

On Sunday night Petterson set up a play that likely will not see him featured on many highlight reels, but it was nonetheless a rather remarkable play in his very young National Hockey League career. Pettersson assisted on a goal by teammate Tim Schaller, not a player known for his goal scoring prowess, and it was good enough for his 60th point of the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season.

Now that is already an impressive feat for a rookie player in the National Hockey League but when you consider the fact that he has now accomplished the feat in only 61 games it becomes all the more so. That 60 point mark is particularly significant because it matches the highest point total ever produced by a Canucks' rookie, a record that is now being shared by Pettersson himself and two other men. Unsurprisingly the names that he has joined belong to some of the most respected men in the business, those mean being National Hockey League legend Pavel Bure and Czech hockey legend Ivan Hlinka. 

The Bure example is particularly noteworthy if only due to how his rookie season served as a launching point for an incredible NHL career, even in the context of it being cut short by Bure's knee issues. Bure would of course capture the Calder Memorial Trophy that year and it seems like there is a pretty good chance that Pettersson is going to secure that individual honor for himself as well. Whether or not Pettersson can maintain his level of form as Bure did and eventually make his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame remains to be seen however, although no doubt fans in Vancouver are going to have a great time watching him attempt to do so.

Hlinka on the other hand never went on to do great things in the National Hockey League due entirely to the fact that crippling back issues effectively derailed his career as a player. He has however gone on to be one of the most influential and respected figures in all of Czech hockey. 

The crazy thing is that Pettersson has plenty of time to surpass this record and take sole possession of first place, beating out some huge names in the process.

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