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Scenes from practice: D Elias Pettersson back on the ice after leaving Canucks’ loss to Kraken with lower-body injury
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Mar 15, 2026, 17:05 EDT
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The Vancouver Canucks were pleased to see defenceman Elias Pettersson on the ice for practice Sunday morning at Rogers Arena.
The young blueliner left Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken after two periods with a lower-body injury. However, after getting medical scans done early Sunday, Pettersson was cleared to join his teammates and was one of 16 skaters on the ice for a 45-minute workout.

What we saw

Veterans Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson and Brock Boeser were all excused from Sunday’s session. That left the Canucks with 12 forwards and just four defencemen on the ice, along with goalies Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo.
Down in numbers, the Canucks did not conduct line rushes or work on special teams. As such, Adam Foote did not tip his hand on any potential lineup changes for the team’s next game on Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers. The Canucks – as they often do – finished practice with a spirited small-area game in one of the offensive zones of the ice.
While stuck in a goal drought that has now reached 20 games, centre Elias Pettersson was among the first skaters on the ice Sunday, working on shooting drills with a handful of other players and the assistant coaches.
The Canucks are expected to have all hands on deck for a full team practice on Monday.

What we heard

Defenceman Elias Pettersson on getting medical clearance to practice after a Saturday night injury scare: “Yeah, got banged up yesterday. Everything is fine now. I’m good to go. I smashed my knee into the boards. They did a scan this morning and everything is fine. I’m always going to try (to play) and I wanted to be back out there, but they (medical staff) held me back. Maybe it was a good decision to get it looked at, but right now I feel good.”
Head coach Adam Foote on centre Elias Pettersson putting in work to find a way out of his scoring slump: “He was out there today at 11:05 for an 11:30 practice working. He was out there after working. He’s been on the bike after games riding. So he’s doing the work. He’s had the breakaway twice in OT (in Winnipeg and against Nashville). I was never a goal scorer, so I don’t know how it feels to go through that. I’m sure at times he feels like it weighs on him. When he’s moving his feet, he’s having success on the ice and he knows that. And he’s trying to keep reminding himself of that. Even at practice today, you saw when he practices his shot, in the first couple of drills, he was moving and he ripped a couple off the bar and in. Obviously, we want him to score, but I like the attitude of the work he’s putting in. He can just work until he gets through it.”

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