The Vancouver Canucks lineup has taken another hit. News emerged on Sunday morning that Canucks forward Elias Pettersson has been placed on injured reserve. The Swedish goal-scorer will be out due to an upper-body ailment. This roster move has happened in front of Vancouver’s Sunday afternoon game against the New Jersey Devils. Pettersson was placed on the IR retroactive to December 5.
The Canucks have announced that Elias Pettersson has been placed on IR and Marco Rossi has been activated from IR.
Elias Petterson Placed on Injured Reserve for Vancouver Canucks
Pettersson (the forward) has only played for the Canucks across his eight-year NHL career. The 27-year-old has eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points in 28 games so far this season. The Sundsvall, Sweden native has averaged 20 minutes and 37 seconds of ice time so far this campaign. Pettersson has a Corsi for of 53.8 and a relative Corsi of 8.9.
The centre has 193 goals and 286 assists for 479 points in 499 career games. Vancouver originally drafted Pettersson in the first round, fifth overall, in the 2017 NHL Draft. The Swede won the Calder Trophy for the league’s top rookie in the 2018-19 campaign.
He’s also represented his native Sweden at the international level. Pettersson won a silver medal at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships for his home country. He was also part of the IIHF World Championship-winning squad in 2018.
What It Means
Pettersson can return to the lineup once he’s ready to go. He did join his team on the Eastern Conference road trip, so that means he’ll likely be ready to return soon.
Pettersson being put on IR does open up a roster spot for Marco Rossi, who came over from the Minnesota Wild in the Quinn Hughes trade. Defenceman Zeev Buium and forward Liam Ohgren also came over in the deal.
Vancouver has gone 1-2 in the three games that Pettersson has missed since he was last in the lineup on December 5. The Canucks are hoping their superstar centre can return sooner rather than later.
Main photo by: Danny Wild-Imagn Images
