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Scenes from Canucks practice: Pettersson and Blueger talk Olympics experience
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Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy
Jeff Paterson
Feb 21, 2026, 16:45 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks welcomed four of their five Olympians back to practice on Saturday as the team skated at the University of British Columbia. 

What we saw

Fresh from their experience in Milano, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, Teddy Blueger, and David Kämpf all joined the group that has been skating since Tuesday. Kevin Lankinen is the only Canuck player still at the Olympics as Finland faced Slovakia for a bronze medal on Saturday.
With close to a full lineup at his disposal, Adam Foote was able to conduct line rushes for the first time all week. Brock Boeser was the only skater missing on Saturday. The veteran winger is battling an illness and skated on his own ahead of the group. The hope is that Boeser will be cleared to practice with the team again on Monday. Foote does not believe Boeser’s issue  is related to the concussion that kept him out of the lineup for five games before the break.
Midway through Saturday’s session, the Canucks played a five minute three on three game. Afterward, Foote acknowledged he missed an opportunity to pit the Canadians on his roster against the US players ahead of Sunday’s gold medal showdown. 
Defenceman Zeev Buium continues to wear a full facial cage after suffering an injury in a January 25th game against Pittsburgh. Foote said on Saturday that Buium is tracking to be available for the Canucks first game after the break on Wednesday against Winnipeg.
Foote confirmed earlier reports that Jonathan Lekkerimäki is having season-ending shoulder surgery.

What we heard

Adam Foote on having the Olympians back with the group: “I liked the way they wanted to be out there today. We actually considered giving them today off, but they wanted to be here. They get tomorrow off. We’ll have two more practices and then play. They helped with the depth today at practice. We could work on a few more things and we had a good strong practice.”
Elias Pettersson on his overall impressions of the Olympics: “Yeah, it was a cool experience. It’s always great to represent Sweden. We gave it our all. I think the (quarter-final) game against the US could have gone either way. We tied it late. That’s how it goes sometimes. It feels good to be back. I’m a little jet-lagged, so it was good to get the legs going today. Happy to see the guys again.”
Teddy Blueger on his Olympic experience: “It was definitely something new. A cool experience being in that whole environment. Some good hockey. Quick turnaround and a lot of travel, obviously. But it was good. I feel like I got the Olympic experience, but I wasn’t able to go to any other events. There wasn’t a lot of free time with the quick turnaround. I think we had one off day the whole time. The Olympics are so spread out there weren’t many events around us. Like even the village itself, wasn’t that big, that many athletes. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it, I almost thought it was going to be bigger with more athletes around us.”
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