When the Vancouver Canucks drafted Elias Pettersson fifth overall in 2017, the forward joined a group of young core players who would ultimately become the beating heart of the team. With Quinn Hughes now their captain, long-tenured players such as Brock Boeser, Thatcher Demko, Conor Garland, and even Tyler Myers have embraced their positions within the organization as leaders. Now entering his eighth season with the team, it’s appearing that Pettersson is doing the same as well.
“I think it’s just growth,” Canucks head coach Adam Foote said of Pettersson’s development throughout the years. Foote, formerly an assistant, has been with the team since 2023 despite only just being named head coach, meaning he has seen the growth Pettersson has exhibited as a leader since then. The star center has worn an assistant captain’s ‘A’ since the 2022–23 season and is likely to do so this upcoming year as well.
“I’m not gonna go back to the past because I wasn’t here, but it seems to me that what I’ve seen right now is he’s taken a real hard leadership role, which is very noticeable,” he added on Thursday after the team’s practice. “You recognize it, and his teammates notice it, and his teammates are with him on it too, like [Demko] is with him, and you look at the great players that continue to be great. They keep getting better. Crosby, for example, he’s always working on the game, no matter if he’s in year 15. Ryan O’Reilly’s that type of guy, and that’s why they can keep staying in the game and keep improving every year on some of the things they’ve got to get better at. And I think I’ve just seen him [with] a different mindset — and you know what? That’s not necessarily me or the change. It might be just maturity himself, in general, but I don’t want to really pinpoint it. But the nice thing is that we see it happening now, just want to see him sustain it.”
“Success Comes With Preparation”: What Vancouver Canucks Management Are Seeing From Elias Pettersson Going Into 2025–26 Season
No <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks">Vancouver Canucks</a> player has more pressure on his shoulders coming into the 2025–26 season than Elias Pettersson.
Part of this shift in Pettersson’s visible leadership was made more prominent in an impromptu trip to Michigan at Foote’s request during the off-season — something that the head coach has been outspokenly impressed about throughout the pre-season. Foote had gathered Pettersson, Demko, and Hughes together to discuss the team’s expectations heading into the 2025–26 season and was certain to point out how this was a meeting between some of the team’s leaders.
One other area where Pettersson is leading his teammates is how to fit in on offence. Heading into the season, it looks like Pettersson will be skating on a line with Boeser and second-year Canuck Jake DeBrusk. Back during training camp, the former Boston Bruin talked about how much he took away from playing with Pettersson in the past, and how he’s using this to approach the upcoming season.
“I learned a lot, honestly, just in terms of how he wants to play the game, how he thinks the game, and kind of where he is on the ice,” DeBrusk said of what he learned from playing with Pettersson during the 2024–25 season. “I think that was something that took a little longer than I would like to admit, for me to figure out. I didn’t really know where to go on the ice when he was there. Kind of funny because he’s such a good player, you’ve got to pretty much get to the net or get to the scoring areas.”
Whether on or off the ice, it’s clear many are looking to Pettersson to fill his role as a leader on this Canucks team. This season will be more of a test than ever — but Pettersson has the skills and support system to back him up.
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