Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced on Wednesday evening that the club has recalled forward Linus Karlsson and defenceman Elias Pettersson from their AHL affiliate, Abbotsford Canucks. The club also placed defenceman Noah Juulsen on the injured reserve, retroactive to January 14th.
General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that D Noah Juulsen has been placed on retroactive IR (retroactive to Jan. 14) and D Elias Pettersson and F Linus Karlsson have been recalled from Abbotsford (AHL).
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 23, 2025
Karlsson is a 25-year-old Swedish winger who the Canucks acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Jonathan Dahlen. During his time in Vancouver, he has played eight NHL games, six in the regular season and two in the playoffs last season. He is still searching for his first NHL point.
The former third-round pick has earned his call-up by scoring a goal in four straight games and six goals in six games. He’s added three assists over the span, bringing his point totals to nine points over his previous six games. On the season in Abbotsford, Karlsson has 12 goals and six assists for 18 points through 17 games. He currently sits fifth on the team in scoring, trailing Nils Åman (24), Jonathan Lekkerimäki (20), Aatu Räty (20) and Ty Mueller (20).
Pettersson is a 20-year-old left-shot defenceman who the Canucks selected in the third round (80th overall) in the 2022 draft.
The 6’3″, 209-lb defenceman earns the call-up against a very solid season in Abbotsford. So much so that he was selected to be the Abbotsford Canucks representative for the AHL All-Star game.
While his bread and butter is defensive reliability and toughness, Pettersson has found success finding the scoresheet. He has one goal and 12 assists for 13 points with a plus-eight rating and 36 penalty minutes through 36 games. He trails only Kirill Kudryatsev (17) and Cole McWard (14) in points by defenceman but leads the entire Canucks team in plus-minus rating and second in penalty minutes.
This marks the second time Pettersson has been called up this season; however, if he is to draw into one of the handful of games coming up for Vancouver, it will be his NHL debut.
Karlsson and Pettersson will join the team in Edmonton tomorrow. We’ll see if they make it into the Canucks lineup for a highly anticipated rematch against the Oilers.
