Vancouver Canucks superstar Elias Pettersson struggled throughout the 2024-2025 season. After surpassing the 80-point mark in back-to-back campaigns, Pettersson regressed alongside the rest of the Canucks. He finished last year with 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points in 64 regular-season contests.
In response to the Canucks' poor showing in 2024-2025, the organization made some drastic changes. They parted ways with Rick Tocchet and elevated assistant coach Adam Foote to new head coach. They also acquired polarizing forward Evander Kane to beef up their top-six group.
But for Pettersson, the upcoming season is a shot at redemption. The 26-year-old spoke to reporters at Sweden's 2026 Winter Olympic Games orientation camp, and outlined what's motivating him this year: revenge.
"I know what I'm capable of," he said. "Actually, I haven't thought about it, but for myself, it's revenge. I'm not happy with last season."
During the 2022-2023 campaign, Pettersson recorded a career best 102 points. The following season, he put up 89 points. But then last year happened. The silky-smooth playmaker became a shell of himself and, subsequently, much easier to defend.
Now healthy and motivated heading into the upcoming campaign, it stands to reason that Pettersson could return to that elite form he had. To his credit, he's at least doing everything he can to get back to that point. One way he's tried to improve during the offseason is by adding muscle and weight. The one knock on the Swedish center has been his slender build, with many wondering if the physical rigor of the NHL was too much for him last year.
"I've put on some (muscle)," he declared. "It's always about building your base strength, to get quicker on the ice. To gain a few pounds, get stronger in general, that's always the goal. But for me, it's a bonus to gain a few pounds."
The Canucks are banking on a bounce-back campaign from Pettersson. Otherwise, his contractual situation will become a huge issue in Vancouver. Last summer, he signed a massive extension, earning him an average annual salary of $11.6 million. That mark is the highest salary on the team, beating out captain Quinn Hughes by nearly $4 million.
With that much money allocated to Pettersson, he has to once again become that point-per-game, top-line centerman. If he cannot, the Canucks' 2025-2026 season will look a lot worse than last year did.
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