The Vancouver Canucks used to have three guys with the last name Pettersson on their roster.
Now, those three guys face off on the ice on Sunday night when the Canucks play the New York Rangers.
Vancouver still rosters two guys with exactly the same name: Elias Pettersson and Elias Pettersson.
The Rangers now have the other one, Marcus Pettersson.
There’s plenty of things to know here.
How NHL Petterssons Are Related
These three Pettersson NHL players aren’t related in any way.
But yeah, they share the same last name and are all part of the NHL. It’s quite the fascinating situation.
And on last season’s Canucks, they were teammates.
Vancouver has always called the forward “Petey” as a nickname, according to Daily Hive, so they’ve needed to work to come up with a different nickname for the young defenseman who shares his name.
What are the odds of these guys from Sweden all being on the same team in the NHL? Pretty low.
The odds are low enough just that the three of them would share the ice together on Sunday even as opponents.
Elias Pettersson Different Pronunciations
The veteran forward Elias Pettersson has his name pronounced with the middle syllable as a long ‘e’ sound — like uh-lee-us.
The younger defenseman Elias Pettersson has his name pronounced with a long ‘i’ sound in the middle — like uh-lie-us.
Why not make it even a bit more complicated? Sure, keep the Canucks on their toes even more.
The Canucks list the veteran Pettersson with just his last name on his jersey.
They put the younger Elias Pettersson as ‘E. Pettersson’ on his uniform.
How Marcus Pettersson Got To Rangers
The Canucks traded Marcus Pettersson to the New York Rangers on July 1, 2026.
The left-shot defenseman brought back a conditional 2030 first-round pick from New York — that becomes a 2031 first-rounder if it’s in the top-10 in 2030.
Pettersson still had five years remaining on his deal at the time of the trade, so the Rangers were making a big investment in their own future by trading for him.
It was a rebuilding-style trade for the Canucks, who didn’t expect to contend much this year and so traded away the 30-year old defenseman.
Now, all the Pettersson hockey players meet on the ice on Sunday night. It’s like a family party, even though they aren’t related. It’s certainly a rare, fascinating sight.
How Elias Pettersson, Canucks’ Other Elias Pettersson, Rangers’ Marcus Pettersson Are Related