Welcome to The Hockey News - Vancouver Canucks site’s 2026–27 player preview article series. This series will outline the expectations for every player projected to play for the Canucks during the 2026–27 season. Today’s player is Canucks forward Elias Pettersson.  

2025–26 was yet another disappointing season for Pettersson on the ice. Despite the forward leading the Canucks in points with 51 in 74 games, he was not quite able to reach the near point-per-game pace that he has shown himself to be more than capable of in the past. While various injuries throughout the past couple of seasons have factored into these efforts, as well as a variety of off-ice struggles, the forward has still shown himself as being able to generate offence in an impressive manner — such as a 12-point effort produced in 10 games during November of 2025. 

Pettersson also continued to place himself higher and higher within Vancouver’s franchise records in 2025–26, claiming sole possession of ninth all-time in power play points and assists, while sitting only one goal behind ninth in franchise history in goals scored. He also registered his 500th-career NHL point and set the Canucks’ new single-season record for blocks by a forward. 

With all factors considered regarding his 2025–26 season, The Hockey News - Canucks site gave Pettersson a C for his efforts last year. As noted at the start of the 2025–26 season, Pettersson will need to step things up to get himself back in the good graces of Vancouver’s fanbase. 

Where Pettersson’s 2026–27 preview differs from his 2025–26 preview is in the staff leading the way for Vancouver to begin the season. New Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra will act as Vancouver’s bench boss in 2026–27, with the ex-NHLer having spent some of his early assistant coaching days with Pettersson as a player. Brendan Gallagher and Luke Schenn, two major leadership personalities, will also step in to help keep the locker room in check. 

A few things need to happen for Pettersson to engage in a ‘bounce-back’ season (or as much of a bounce-back season as possible). While it’s very unlikely that he hits the 100-point plateau this season, a 70 or 80-point effort over a full season would be a start for a forward that has underachieved throughout the past two seasons. Whether Pettersson is able to hit that mark or not will depend on his health, how he adapts to the style that Malhotra has the team playing, and the effort levels shown on a nightly basis.  

Bold prediction: Pettersson will finish the 2026–27 season at wing instead of center. 

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