Top 50 Canucks players of all time: #17 – Elias Pettersson

But he didn’t slow down there. Within the first month with the Canucks, Pettersson had four multi-point games – including a two-goal, five-point night against the Colorado Avalanche – resulting in 15 points in just nine games. The left-shot centre went on to set the Canucks’ single-season rookie record with 28 goals and 66 points in 71 games. His efforts earned him 151 of the 171 first-place votes for the Calder Memorial Trophy, joining Pavel Bure as the only two Canucks to be named the NHL’s rookie of the year.

The Canucks would take massive strides the following season, as the lotto-line was formed. The lotto line consisted of Pettersson, JT Miller and Brock Boeser, who produced 70 goals and 184 points combined that season. This line carried the Canucks to their first playoff appearance since the 2014-2015 season. Pettersson elevated his play come playoff time, scoring seven goals and 18 points over the Canucks’ preliminary and two-round playoff run (17 games).

Pettersson had his 2020-2021 season cut to just 26 games as he suffered a season-ending wrist surgery. But would bounce back the following season to his normal pace of 68 points and hit the 30-goal plateau for the first time in his career. However, it was 2022-2023 when Pettersson reached superstardom at the professional level.

Paired with freshly-signed KHL-star Andrei Kuzmenko, Pettersson took his game to new heights, setting new career-highs in goals (39), assists (56) and points (102). These totals etched Pettersson in the Canucks record book, as he became only the sixth player in franchise history to hit the century mark in points. Pettersson was also named to the third All-Star game of his career in 2022-2023 and participated in the NHL’s hardest shot competition. Clocking in at a 103.2 MPH slapshot, Pettersson became the first Canuck in franchise history to win the contest.

He carried on his success in what was the Canucks’ third-best season in franchise history, scoring 34 goals and 89 points. While he had five goals and 13 points fewer than the previous year, many gave Pettersson a pass as he played most of the year with the likes of Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, a disappointing Kuzmenko and an up-and-coming Nils Höglander. The Swede cashed in just before the NHL Trade Deadline as he inked an eight-year, $92.6 million extension, which was the highest contract signed in Canucks history.

However, once the playoffs came around, Pettersson did not have the same postseason success as he did in 2020. He didn’t look like himself, finishing with just one goal and six points in 13 games.

After the season, Pettersson shared that he was dealing with a knee issue since the All-Star break, which lined up with the dip in his production. That injury affected his training over the following offseason, which led to a slow start to the 2024-2025 campaign. He went on to finish the year with career lows – outside of his 26-game shortened 2020-2021 season – in goals (15) and points (45).

While fans may not be happy with his play from last season, Pettersson has established himself as one of the brightest talents to wear the Canucks crest over the first six years of his career. The creativity, wicked release and two-way ability he displayed in the past should give Canucks fans reason to believe that Pettersson can bounce back to the player he used to be for the 2025-2026 campaign.

Spending all seven seasons as a member of the Canucks, Pettersson’s 471 games played rank him 31st in franchise history. Despite sitting so long on the all-time games list, Pettersson ranks 14th in goals (185), 11th in assists (272) and ninth in points (457). He has seven years remaining on his current contract that carries a full no-movement clause, which will only allow Pettersson to climb higher in the Canucks record books and further cement his legacy as another Swedish superstar in Vancouver.

Our previously ranked top 50 Canucks of all time:

#50 – Curt Fraser
#49 – Dave Babych
#48 – Martin Gelinas
#47 – Chris Oddleifson
#46 – Jannik Hansen
#45 – Ivan Boldirev
#44 – Gary Smith
#43 – Jacob Markstrom
#42 – Orland Kurtenbach
#41 – Harold Snepsts
#40 – Darcy Rota
#39 – Thatcher Demko
#38 – Geoff Courtnall
#37 – Dennis Ververgaert
#36 – Petri Skriko
#35 – Dan Hamhuis
#34 – Doug Lidster
#33 – Patrik Sundstrom
#32 – Brendan Morrison
#31 – Richard Brodeur
#30 – Sami Salo
#29 – André Boudrais
#28 – Kevin Bieksa
#27 – Don Lever
#26 – Bo Horvat
#25 – Brock Boeser
#24 – Dennis Kearns
#23 – Ed Jovanovski
#22 – Greg Adams
#21 – Cliff Ronning
#20 – JT Miller
#19 – Tony Tanti
#18 – Jyrki Lumme