Elias Pettersson: Canucks need to 'turn the page and move forward' after Quinn Hughes trade

What the Vancouver Canucks are exactly made of after the Quinn Hughes trade becomes a little clearer tonight thanks to the return to the lineup of top centre Elias Pettersson for the match-up with the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Arena.

Pettersson, 27, hasn’t played since a Dec. 5 contest with Utah due to an undisclosed upper body injury, missing the past eight games. The Canucks dealt Hughes on Dec. 12, sending their linchpin defenceman to the Minnesota Wild for defenceman Zeev Buium, forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round draft pick. 

With Hughes and his 23 points in 26 games with Vancouver now out of the picture, Pettersson becomes the Canucks’ leading scorer on the season, via his eight goals and 22 point in 28 games.

Buium, Rossi and Ohgren helped Vancouver go 4-1-0 on their just completed five-game eastern road trip. This evening marks their Rogers Arena debuts in Vancouver colours.

“Quinn is Quinn. We all know how good he is,” Pettersson said after the morning skate Saturday. “It’s tough to lose him — a friend for a long time for me — but it’s a business at the end of the day. I’m just happy with the return we got. The players are looking good. We just turn the page and move forward.

“The road trip was great. I think we played some good hockey, so we’ll just try to build on that. Obviously (there’s been) a big change since the last time I played, but the new guys have been looking good.”

Pettersson will play his 500th game as a Canuck tonight. He becomes the 29th player in team history to hit that mark. Brock Boeser (588) leads all active Canucks.

Pettersson didn’t get into what his injury was, but said “there was a lot of pain trying to shoot the puck, but it feels good now.”

Coach Adam Foote had Pettersson skating between Evander Kane and Kiefer Sherwood with the line rushes in the morning skate. Sherwood leads Vancouver in goals (16).

Rossi was centring the No. 2 line, with Boeser and Jake DeBrusk on his wings.

Rossi played 20 minutes, 13 seconds a night in those five games without Pettersson. He was averaging 18:06 per game with Minnesota.

“Marco jumped into the fire and probably played too many minutes with the injuries and the depth at the position, so it’ll be nice to have a little bit more balance,” Foote said.

@SteveEwen

SEwen@postmedia.com