Vancouver Canucks finally break silence on star forward Elias Pettersson's injury status

Just before Saturday night's game against the Minnesota Wild, the Vancouver Canucks got word that Elias Pettersson will not be able to play, despite taking the warmup, due to an undisclosed injury.

Head Coach Adam Foote gave an injury update on Elias Pettersson following the game, telling reporters that the Swedish forward will be going for an MRI so the club can learn the full extent of his injury.

With the MRI in the rearview mirror now, it looks like there's some positive news to share regarding Elias Pettersson and his return to the Vancouver Canucks lineup, which could be sooner than most were expecting.

In a post on social media on Tuesday evening, TSN's Farhan Lalji shared that Elias Pettersson could be back in the Vancouver Canucks lineup as early as tomorrow night against the Buffalo Sabres, but both the player & team are targeting Sunday afternoon's tilt with the New Jersey Devils as his return date.

This is great news for Adam Foote and his coaching staff as they've been forced to use Czech forward David Kampf, who the club only signed last month, as their first line centerman for the last couple games.

After a slow start to the 2025-26 season, which drew the attention of everyone in the hockey world, Elias Pettersson has picked it up in a big way since the beginning of November and in 28 games this year, the Sundsvall, Sweden native has 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists), ten penalty minutes and is a minus-eight while averaging 20:37 of ice time per night.

The Canucks will look to get back into the win column tomorrow night, with or without Elias Pettersson, as they host Rasmus Dahlin and the Buffalo Sabres at Rogers Arena, with puck drop set for just after 7 p.m. PT on Sportsnet Pacific.