Elias Pettersson is heading back to the AHL. 

No, not that one. It’s defenceman Elias Pettersson who will make his return to the Abbotsford Canucks only one month short of his one-year anniversary of joining the Vancouver Canucks full-time. Pettersson was re-assigned to the AHL earlier today after sitting out for a second-straight game in favour of defenders Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Tom Willander. 

Some may view this move as bad for Pettersson, as so far, the young defenceman has not looked the same as he did last season. Being passed by multiple defencemen in the depth chart when Pettersson had initially solidified himself a roster spot may not be a good look. However, Pettersson is still only 21 years old and has only been playing on North American-sized ice for one full season (2024–25), so this move should be viewed as less of a slight to him and more of a change of course for his development. 

Returning to Abbotsford will give Pettersson a better shot at rounding out his game in all scenarios. At the NHL level, the sharing of minutes on special teams is pretty slim. Throughout his 52 games played with Vancouver dating back to 2024–25, Pettersson only logged 3:16 minutes played on the power play and 37:16 on the penalty kill. When returning to Abbotsford, he’ll likely slot into the top-pairing. 

Another underrated aspect of joining Abbotsford is that Pettersson will have more time to develop under AHL Canucks Head Coach Manny Malhotra. As seen last year, lots of players found success under Malhotra and were able to elevate their game to a new level as AHL rookies — Ty Mueller and Kirill Kudryavtsev are two who stand out. Malhotra has been great with young players in the sense that he’s gotten them to commit to strong systems early on in their careers, allowing them to have a better idea of what they should be looking out for both offensively and defensively when on the ice. 

Of course, the biggest benefit to Pettersson’s return to the AHL is the fact that he’ll provide Abbotsford with a significant boost on defence. Points-wise, it’s not as though Pettersson will score hat trick after hat trick to win his team games, but he’ll be there to make the right play when coming back into the team’s zone or to deliver a big hit to separate an opposing player from the puck. With Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo still out of the lineup, there’s plenty of space for Pettersson to take a big role on Abbotsford’s D-core and help them recover from their league-leading 86 goals against. 

With all this in mind, it’s not as though Pettersson is returning to the AHL for good. The defenceman has proven that he can play excellently at the NHL level even as a 21-year-old — sending him back to Abbotsford just means the team wants him playing rather than sitting out for a long stretch of games. Again, Pettersson is still very young, so another quick AHL stint to refine his game a bit more isn’t a bad thing. Realistically, it’s likely that Vancouver will have Pettersson back in their lineup again before the 2025–26 season ends. 

As for now, Pettersson will have a better shot at playing heavy minutes in the AHL. It’s a good move for his development, but also a good one for Abbotsford’s team as a whole. 

Pettersson will be back in action tonight against the Calgary Wranglers. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. 

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