Welcome to The Hockey News – Vancouver Canucks site’s player preview series for the 2025–26 season. In these articles, we’ll preview the players who are expected to play for the Canucks in the 2025–26 season. Today, we’ll be looking at how rookie defenceman Elias Pettersson could perform in 2025–26.
2024–25 was Pettersson’s first full season of playing hockey in North America. Prior to then, his only experiences had come from playing in Sweden and representing his country at IIHF U-20 World Championships. Even so, Pettersson went above and beyond in 2024–25, starting off his AHL campaign with the Abbotsford Canucks and quickly earning the trust of head coach Manny Malhotra. For his excellent play in the AHL, Pettersson was named to the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic, but ultimately didn’t go due to being in Vancouver’s lineup.
Pettersson made his NHL debut on January 25, 2025, and virtually stuck in Vancouver’s lineup since then. His calm demeanour and consistent play resulted in the Canucks trading veteran Carson Soucy, as Pettersson had ended up gaining his minutes instead. By the end of the 2024–25 season, Pettersson scored his first NHL goal and added two assists onto his total, doing so in 28 games played for Vancouver.
For the remarkable first impression that he made in his rookie NHL and AHL season, The Hockey News – Canucks site gave Pettersson an A for 2024–25. Not only was he able to transition to the AHL and NHL seamlessly, he made a good impression and was always quick to defend his teammates despite regularly being the youngest on the team. Because of his stellar rookie season, many expect him to start the 2025–26 season in Vancouver and potentially stay for the rest of it.
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The 2025–26 season will be full of questions for Pettersson. While he is the current favourite to take the sixth spot on Vancouver’s blueline, the Canucks did sign Pierre-Oliver Joseph, who could also slot in there. If he does make the roster out of training camp and sticks throughout the year, it’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts to playing a full season. While he isn’t likely to produce points at the rate that Canucks captain Quinn Hughes does, if he plays in a full season, he could collect more than expected depending on his deployment.
Adam Kierszenblat’s Stat Prediction: 2G, 15A, 17P
Izzy Cheung’s Stat Prediction: 1G, 18A, 19P
Bold Prediction: Pending injuries, Pettersson plays a full season with the Canucks in 2025–26
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Conor Garland
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Elias Pettersson (F)
Quinn Hughes
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