Canucks assign defenceman Elias Pettersson to AHL Abbotsford

The Vancouver Canucks have assigned defence prospect Elias Pettersson to the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League, the club announced Wednesday evening.

(If you’re here in panic because you read that first sentence or the headline too quickly, don’t worry — yes, it’s the other Elias Pettersson).

This particular Pettersson racked up three goals and 14 points in 34 games with Västerås IK in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier pro league, this season. He also skated in four games with Örebro HK in the top-tier Swedish Hockey League.

Pettersson is not related to star Canucks centre Elias Pettersson, who was born in Sundsvall as opposed to Västerås. The defence prospect was born in 2004 and was drafted in the 2022 third round; the forward was born in 1998 and was picked No. 5 overall in 2017.

The younger Pettersson signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Canucks last April. The first year of that deal will likely take effect with the 2024–25 season, coincidentally the same year the older Pettersson’s eight-year, $11.6 million AAV deal is set to begin.

The Canucks made Pettersson their second selection in the 2022 NHL Draft after Jonathan Lekkerimäki when they snagged him with the No. 80 overall pick. Pettersson appeared in 60 SHL games with Örebro during the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons, collecting eight points, before heading to the Allsvenskan level for most of 2023–24.

Pettersson is slated to join an Abbotsford defensive group that also includes Jett Woo, Matt Irwin, Akito Hirose, Filip Johansson, Cole McWard, Nick Cicek, and Guillaume Brisebois. The AHL Canucks currently rank seventh in the Pacific Division with a 29-22-6 record and 64 points in 57 games.

The AHL Canucks are in action at Abbotsford Centre on Wednesday night to take on the Bakersfield Condors, against whom they are battling for playoff positioning in the extremely close Pacific. After that game, Abbotsford will return to action on the weekend to face off against the Henderson Silver Knights for a back-to-back series of games at home on Saturday and Sunday.

Vancouver selected six players in the 2022 NHL Draft: Lekkerimäki, Pettersson, Daimon Gardner, Ty Young, Jackson Dorrington, and Kirill Kudryavtsev. It still remains to be seen which of them will be the first to play in the NHL.