Elias Pettersson's roster projection should concern Canucks fans

Daily Faceoff published dual Team Sweden projections on Friday, with Matt Larkin and Uffe Bodin building a separate lineup.

Larkin kept the Vancouver Canucks centre, while Bodin left him off and called him his toughest cut.

Jeff Paterson flagged the split for Canucks fans.

Now look at where Larkin actually placed him. Pettersson centres the fourth line, between William Eklund and Gabriel Landeskog.

Larkin's top two centres are Leo Carlsson and Joel Eriksson Ek, with Mika Zibanejad slotted as the 13th forward. Pettersson does not crack the top six even on the roster that includes him.

So the gap between the two writers is narrower than it looks.

One sees a checking-line Swede, the other sees no Swede at all, and neither sees a first-line one.

That framing matters because Pettersson carries an $11.6 million cap hit through 2031-32, per PuckPedia. He will be 29 at the tournament and is coming off a 15-goal, 51-point season with a minus-30.

Bodin's projected blue line includes Tom Willander, and Larkin lists the Vancouver defenceman among his considered names. Sweden's likeliest Canucks representative in February 2028 may not be Pettersson at all.

Larkin notes the tournament is 19 months out and rosters will likely be settled roughly 17 months from now. That gives Pettersson two full seasons under general manager Ryan Johnson and head coach Manny Malhotra to reset the argument.

Sweden's centre pipeline is not waiting for him either. Anton Frondell and Ivar Stenberg both appear in Larkin's forward group, and both are being groomed for heavier lifting by 2030.

The honest read is that Pettersson has already lost the top-six argument in his own country.

Winning it back is a bigger job than making a list.

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