Canucks Forward Elias Pettersson On Quinn Hughes’ Return To Vancouver: ‘I Hope It’s A Good Reception For Him’

It’s arguably the most widely-discussed aspect about the Vancouver Canucks this weekend. Former captain and franchise record-holder Quinn Hughes makes his return to Rogers Arena on Sunday evening when the Minnesota Wild roll into town. This will be Hughes’ first trip back to Rogers Arena since he was traded to the Wild on December 12, 2025. 

The team that will welcome Hughes back to Vancouver looks starkly different from the ones he was once a part of in his time with the Canucks. While he has played with a good chunk of the team at least once, there are only a small handful of players that have played with the star defenceman for longer than one season. 

One of those players is Canucks forward Elias Pettersson, who spoke to the media after practice today about Hughes’ return on Sunday. 

“I hope it’s a good reception for him coming back. Obviously, what he did for this franchise, and top of scoring for D-men all-time and everything,” he said. 

That said, Pettersson also emphasized that he doesn’t know how the Rogers Arena crowd as a whole will react to the return of their ex-captain. Nor does he know how the defenceman feels about his return. 

“I don’t know what he’s feeling. He’s playing today [...] I’m sure it’s a lot of emotions for him, coming back to where he played for X amount of years, but yeah, it’ll be good. Hopefully we can come up with a win.” 

Vancouver has dropped nine consecutive games heading into Sunday’s matchup. Their last win was a 4–1 victory over the Calgary Flames on October 3. If the Canucks want to end this brutal losing streak, one of the keys to a victory will be shutting down their former captain. 

“Obviously try not to get him the puck, but he’s a really good player. He makes himself time a lot, but yeah, trying to minimize the ice for him.” 

Vancouver faces Minnesota at 7:00 pm PT tomorrow. 

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