Vancouver Canucks refuse to let Elias Pettersson play for Sweden at IIHF World Championships
Photo credit: NHL
Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson was reportedly not cleared by the team to participate at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, Sweden's head coach says.
The 2025 IIHF World Championship is set to get underway in a matter of days and all 16 participating nations have started finalizing their respective rosters for the tournament, with four members of the Vancouver Canucks taking to the ice in Sweden and Denmark.
Last month, USA Hockey announced that Conor Garland and Drew O'Connor would play for them, Filip Hronek is suiting up for Czechia, while Marcus Pettersson will play for the co-hosts Sweden, but he wasn't the only Vancouver Canuck they wanted on their roster.
Elias Pettersson not cleared for IIHF World Championship
On Monday, the same day he finalized his nation's roster for the tournament, Swedish head coach Sam Hallam shared that he wanted to have Elias Pettersson to play for them, but unfortunately he wasn't cleared.
Hallam shared that Elias Pettersson has a "couple of injury needs" that he has to take care of during the summer in order to make sure that he's back to 100 percent healthy in time for the start of training camp in September and the beginning of the 2025-26 season.
"He will not play in the world's, we talked last week. Elias has a couple of injury needs that need to be taken care of so he can be fully prepared for next year." Hallam said according to Rick Dhaliwal.
The World Championship would've been a great opportunity for Elias Pettersson to get a confidence boost heading into the offseason, so it's unfortunate to hear that an injury prevented him from being able to participate.
Pettersson's next chance to represent Sweden will be the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy and next month, nations will begin announcing their first six players for the Games, which get underway on Friday, February 6th.
Tom Willander "not there yet" according to Sam Hallam
Meanwhile, during their training camp and exhibition tournament in Czechia, Sweden had top prospect Tom Willander on their roster and he even featured on their top pairing with future Canucks teammate Marcus Pettersson on Sunday against Finland.
Willander, who the Canucks are trying to get signed, was not named to Sweden's final roster, with Sam Hallam telling reporters that while he was very impressed with the blueliner, he's not there yet.
"He is not there yet but very impressed with him, elite skater, you can trust him in your own end, we see lots of potential for future." Hallam said.
The 2025 IIHF World Championship will get underway on Friday with four games, all of which will be on TSN and feature members of the Vancouver Canucks - Austria vs Finland, Switzerland vs Czechia, Denmark vs United States and Sweden vs Slovakia.
Previously on CanucksDaily
| POLL | ||
MAI 6 | 717 ANSWERS Vancouver Canucks refuse to let Elias Pettersson play for Sweden at IIHF World Championships Do you think Elias Pettersson will be on Sweden's roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics? | ||
| Yes | 386 | 53.8 % |
| No | 331 | 46.2 % |
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