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Welcome back to CanucksArmy’s top 20 Vancouver Canucks prospect rankings. We’re officially inside our top five prospects and are getting close to the finish line. Today, we focus on a Swedish defender who shares the same name as one of the organization’s top players.
But first, let’s recap how we got here.
Honourable Mentions
20th ranked: Nikita Tolopilo
19th ranked: Jett Woo
18th ranked: Aku Koskenvuo
17th ranked: Ty Mueller
16th ranked: Danila Klimovich
15th ranked: Josh Bloom
14th ranked: Cole McWard
13th ranked: Max Sasson
12th ranked: Riley Patterson
11th ranked: Vilmer Alriksson
10th ranked: Anthony Romani
9th ranked: Melvin Fernström
8th ranked: Sawyer Mynio
7th ranked: Kirill Kudryavtsev
6th ranked: Arshdeep Bains
5th ranked: Aatu Räty

Elias Pettersson
Team: Abbotsford Canucks | Age: 20 | Position: Defence | Height: 6’4 | Weight: 209 lbs | Shoots: Left

When the Vancouver Canucks drafted another Elias Pettersson in the third round of the 2022 entry draft, it sparked obvious puns within the market. Luckily, as the 80th overall pick, the thought of how the team would differentiate the name bars on the back of the jersey was a distant issue — if one at all.
Just two seasons post-draft, however, the young defender is bursting up the ranks and is now sitting on the cusp of eventually making that a real-life issue for the club. Seriously, how are they going to swing those name bars?
After playing the bulk of his draft-plus-one season as an 18-year-old in the SHL — 43 games with Örebro — the young Swede took a small step back in search of an elevated role. With sheltered minutes at the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, Pettersson accepted a loan to his hometown club, Västerås, to drop back and play in the Allsvenskan — Sweden’s second-tier and AHL equivalent.
It was a good fit, and he would carve out a proper role to average nearly 18 minutes per game. And as a developing defender, minutes are crucial; second tier, or not.
While it wasn’t a top role, he was effective on the club’s third-pairing and penalty-killing units. With no power play time, he still managed to tally three goals and 14 points, ranking third among U21 defenders. In typical fashion, he made his presence known in other facets of the game. Despite playing just 34 games — the fewest among full-time defenders on his team — he finished fourth team-wide with 26 hits and 10 blocked shots while driving strong territorial results at 5-on-5.
In addition to club matches, Pettersson showcased his brute and forceful brand on the world stage, playing in front of his home country at last year’s World Juniors. Skating in more of a supporting role, he contributed two assists en route to a Silver Medal finish.
Västerås was far from a playoff berth, and his Allsvenkan season would be cut short. Canucks’ fans did not mind, though. With his time in Sweden officially over, the young defender crossed the pond to take on North American hockey for the Abbotsford Canucks.
He slid in for eight regular season matches and one playoff match. Although, as a freshly minted body on a playoff-bound squad, his involvement within the lineup was low. In fact, he only eclipsed 12 minutes of ice time on three occasions and averaged just 09:16 as a whole.
That didn’t stop him from showing the league, and Canucks fans, what he’s all about. Unlike many European skaters, EP26’s game felt tailor-made for AHL hockey. As a meat-and-potatoes type player, the smaller ice offered a quicker outlet to intimidate his opponents.
And intimidate he did.
On top of several big hits, he put his stake in the ground — or, the ice — to let his opponents know that he, or his teammates, will not be pushed around with him on the ice.
“Of course, I’m going to stick up every time for my teammates and if that happens again, I’m going to be there again.” He told Postmedia after sticking up for Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
Pettersson is an incredibly mean and rugged defender. Whether it be through netfront battles, in the corners or open ice hits, he’s consistently finding new avenues to making his opponent’s nights a living nightmare.
Sometimes to his demise.
His bone-crushing hits do come at a cost. Sometimes, he seeks them too aggressively and tends to chase opponents out of position. We expect Manny Malhotra and the rest of the coaching staff to reel this in immediately, but it’s certainly a learning curve that will take adjusting.
You’ll see several examples of this in the clip below.
At 6’4, 210 lbs, he’s got the frame to grow significant traction. The Canucks recently lost Nikita Zadorov, who won over the hearts of Canucks faithful with his evil glares and bone-crushing hits. While Pettersson’s game is not a carbon copy, he could be a strong homegrown talent to eventually fill that gap.
Despite his large frame, his skating is fluid. Not only fast, but he can use four-way mobility to make quick transitions in all three zones and couples that with a strong first pass.
All-in-all, Pettersson is the prototypical two-way defender. As a big-bodied bruiser, he can play the shutdown and contribute significantly to your penalty killing, but can also turn the play the other way and contribute as a strong transitional player.
He’s no superstar, but there is enough in his game to warrant excitement as a strong piece to this club’s backend in the not-so-distant future. We anticipate him making a run as a “fan favourite” in Abbotsford to boot.
Ceiling: Second pairing defender. We love his two-way ability and are convinced he could slide in as a contributor to the second pairing and penalty-killing units. He brings skill, grit and an NHL-ready frame that’s only getting stronger by the season.
Floor: Seventh defender. In his short and sweet AHL stint, we did notice a few minor adjustments needed. As expected, he’ll need to adjust to the speed and the overall time needed to develop plays. Yet, the package feels destined to transition smoothly, and he brings enough to the table that he should be able to carve out a role in some capacity at the NHL level.
ETA: Although we predict a relatively smooth transition, we don’t anticipate him to be NHL-ready out the gate. There’s some conditioning and development that will need to be instilled in his game and with a crowded left side in Abbotsford, we’re just hoping he gets top-four minutes. We expect a full year of AHL deployment, with a possibility of taking a run at an NHL position by the 2025-26 training camp. However, don’t be surprised if that stretches a little further into the two-year range.
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