Which of the Petterssons Will Return to the Ice in Vancouver?
The 2024-2025 season for the Vancouver Canucks saw three Pettersson’s take the ice at once. Elias Pettersson played his seventh season with the Canucks, Marcus Pettersson joined the team after being traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins, and yet another Elias Pettersson was called up from the Abbotsford Canucks. While having three Pettersson’s in the lineup has been nothing short of amusing, how likely is it that we will see this again in the upcoming season? Let’s take a look at how likely it is that each Pettersson will return to the lineup for the Canucks once again.
In early February, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to the Canucks in return for Danton Heinen and Vincent Desharnais. The second-round pick defenseman from Sweden ended up being a great addition to the team for Vancouver. Following being traded, he signed a six-year, 33-million dollar extension contract with an average annual value of $5.5 million that begins next season. Given the details of his contract, we know that we will see Marcus Pettersson take the ice with the Canucks again in the 2025-2026 season.
Elias Pettersson was called up from the Abbotsford Canucks in late January this year and scored his first NHL goal in April during a game against the Anaheim Ducks. He played 28 games with the Canucks this season and proved himself worthy of playing in the NHL. As the Vancouver Canucks season came to an end and the Abbotsford Canucks headed into playoffs, Elias Pettersson was not on the playoff roster. The Canucks organization told the media that in their eyes, he is a full-time NHL player so they decided to leave him off of the playoffs lineup in Abbotsford. This makes it seem incredibly likely that we see the younger Pettersson make a return to the Vancouver Canucks next season.
Finally, the veteran Ellias Pettersson. After seven seasons with the Canucks, Elias Pettersson was seen as a well-loved star player. However, as the season continued, people became less and less impressed by Pettersson’s game. He was no longer putting up the performance that he was once able to. With the additional drama between him and J.T. Miller that led to Miller being traded to the New York Rangers, all eyes fell on Pettersson to see how he would prove his worth to the team. Yet despite his previous star power, he fell short most of the season, and his season ended early due to an undisclosed injury. With his underperformance this season, his future with the Canucks is unclear. The Canucks organization has stated that they’re leaving their trade options for Pettersson open, but many people see his return to the ice in Vancouver to be unlikely.
