Canucks’ Elias Pettersson won’t return for final three regular season games due to injury

The 2024-25 season has come to a close for Elias Pettersson.

Sidelined with an upper-body injury since mid-March, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed to reporters Saturday that Pettersson will not return to the lineup for the team’s remaining three regular season games.

Limited to 64 appearances with the Canucks this season, Pettersson wraps up the year with 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points, nearly half of his 89-point finish from a year ago and another step back from his career-high 102-point showing in 2022-23. This season, Pettersson also joined Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off where through three contests he was held without a point.

Originally chosen fifth overall by Vancouver in the 2017 NHL Draft, the 26-year-old Swedish-born forward has since skated in 471 career contests with the Canucks in which he has collected 185 goals and 272 assists for 457 points. Pettersson has also added eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points through 30 appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Of note, in 2018-19, Pettersson was presented with the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year after he registered 66 points in 71 games.

Last March, the Canucks signed Pettersson to an eight-year contract extension that carries an $11.6-million annual average value, according to PuckPedia, plus a full no-movement clause that activates this July.

For the Canucks, on the season the club holds a 37-29-13 record and 87 points. On Wednesday, the club was eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoffs contention, one year after it finished atop the Pacific Division with 109 points, part of a five-year stretch in which the squad has earned a single trip to the postseason.

The Canucks close out the final three games of their regular season schedule coming Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, Monday versus the San Jose Sharks, and Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.