No Vancouver Canucks player has more pressure on his shoulders coming into the 2025–26 season than Elias Pettersson.
A down year in 2024–25 saw the former first-round pick score a career-low 0.7 points per game. Injuries, off-ice issues, and more impacted his preparation heading into said season — but many in the organization believe that this won’t be the case come 2025–26.
“Success comes with preparation,” Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford said in the team’s opening media for 2025 Training Camp. “I believe all of our players, and especially Petey, have worked very hard this summer, so now the test starts tomorrow. That’s why we have camp, why we play the games.”
Throughout the off-season, various members of Canucks management have spoken out about how this year will be different for Pettersson, and how extra prep near the start of summer has factored into his performance today. A few weeks ago, Pettersson himself had told the media that he put on six kilograms of muscle during the off-season. More importantly, he explained that he’s feeling much more confident.
“For me, coming over within four days, that commitment, having those conversations — open book — he really wants to continue to grow,” Canucks head coach Adam Foote added on what he saw from the forward throughout the summer. “Obviously, you see maturity happen throughout where his testing, the first test he did very well, and it’s a type of test that if he did the work in the summer compared to last year, he might not. He had to do the work to get the number.”
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Vancouver Canucks 2025 Training Camp Questions: Who Will Play On Elias Pettersson's Line?
Hockey is officially back as the Vancouver Canucks are about to begin their 2025 Training Camp. This year's training camp will take place in Penticton from September 18-21. Overall, there are many questions heading into training camp, including who will play on Elias Pettersson's line this year.
Prior to last year’s slowdown, Pettersson averaged over a point-per-game in two straight seasons, logging his first 100-point season in 2022–23. Now, three years later, he enters the hockey season with a semi-new cast of potential linemates that will be filtered out during this week’s training camp. Whether he’ll play with last season’s leading goal-scorer, Jake DeBrusk, or scrappy new addition Evander Kane, has yet to be determined. Regardless of this, Vancouver’s management group has expressed their belief in him being able to get back to the “impact superstar” he has presented himself as in the past.
“I do believe he’s committed to be the player that we all expect him to be, and we’re all hoping that that starts right from game one.”
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