Last year’s World Junior Championships was a great experience for Elias Pettersson (D-Petey).
The now 19-year-old defenceman was selected in the third round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks. D-Petey signed his entry-level contract on April 19th and has continued to develop his game in Sweden with the Örebro and Västerås organizations.
As a teenager, D-Petey has played 64 games in the SHL (Sweden’s top league) and 17 games in the Allsvenskan (Sweden’s second division). This will be his second World Junior Championships and the left-shot defenceman is looking forward to his home country hosting the hockey event of the winter.
“All of Sweden is excited for the tournament and it’s going to be amazing for us to have it at home,” said Pettersson. “For me, it’s huge. I think I had a pretty good tournament last year and I will bring my experience from last year with me into this year’s tournament.”
Pettersson is a bit bigger, a bit taller and a lot stronger than he was last year at this tournament. After playing and practicing with men for the past two seasons, Pettersson has added muscle and will be one of Sweden’s most punishing defencemen. Coming in at 6’4” and 205 pounds, you’ll easily be able to spot D-Petey, who will be wearing number two for Sweden at this tournament.
He’s also excited to be a player that his teammates can trust on the ice in his own zone. D-Petey ate up a lot of minutes last season at the WJC and ended the tournament leading his team in shorthanded ice time.
Earlier this season, the Canucks and D-Petey's SHL team Örebro worked together to find a spot where he could get more ice time. Pettersson was ultimately loaned to the Allsvenskan so that he could play an elevated role at such an important point of his hockey development.
“I think that was really huge for me this season to go to Västerås,” said Pettersson about his loan to the Allsvenskan. “It’s great to play many minutes every game. I think that was really important for me to feel good and now I can bring [that experience] into this tournament.”
As for having two other Canucks draft picks on the team, D-Petey is happy to see some faces that he skated with at Canucks development camp.
“It’s great to have those two around me,” said D-Petey. “They are both really nice guys that are also really good hockey players,” said D-Petey with a chuckle.
Pettersson will continue to eat up a lot of shorthanded minutes for Sweden while also being a reliable piece on Tre Kronor’s backend.
He’s got some experience at this tournament and is ready to be a player who sticks up for his teammates and earns more trust from the coaching staff as the tournament progresses.
Sweden’s schedule for the WJC:
Tuesday, December 26th – 10:30 am PT vs Latvia
Thursday, December 28th – 10:30 am PT vs Germany
Friday, December 29th – 10:30 am PT vs Canada
Sunday, December 31st – 5:30 am PT vs Finland
