Bruce Boudreau takes jab at Vancouver Canucks' coach Foote for not playing Pettersson more
It’s been almost three years since Bruce Boudreau last coached a game for the Vancouver Canucks, but that hasn’t stopped him from giving his take on how he’d handle things differently.
The 70-year-old appeared on the Donnie and Dhali podcast on Friday, touching on several Canucks-related topics, including the subpar offensive start of Elias Pettersson.
He was asked specifically by co-host Rick Dhaliwal about whether he ever encountered a situation like the Canucks are in right now, icing a roster where multiple key centres are injured.
“I don’t know if I did or if I didn’t,” Boudreau said. “But to be honest, every team has injuries.”
“I know teams I’ve been on have been decimated by injuries. Whether it was three centremen… I’ve had four defensemen out, I know that. I don’t know which is worse.”
But I tell you, if I did have three [centres] injured, Elias would play 23 minutes a night because he’s the one guy that would be healthy.”
"If I did have 3 injured, Elias would play 23 minutes a night because he would be the one guy that would be healthy.."
Bruce Boudreau on if he has had experience with this many centre injuries to his team.
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— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) October 24, 2025
Pettersson’s ice time has been a hot topic in Vancouver. Canucks head coach Adam Foote hasn’t been playing the Canucks number-one centre as much as you’d expect, considering that both Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger have been missing from the lineup.
During Vancouver’s last two games, Pettersson ranks just seventh in terms of 5-on-5 ice time, behind both Aatu Räty and Max Sasson.
Pettersson ranks seventh among Canucks forwards for 5-on-5 ice time since Chytil and Blueger were injured. (Natural Stat Trick)
Foote attempted to explain his curious usage of Pettersson before the Canucks game against Nashville last Thursday.
“When you’re playing eight minutes on special teams, largely because of our injuries, those are harder minutes,” Foote explained.
“Then, you take the three road games in three-and-a-half days, where he looked really good, and you try to manage hard penalty kill minutes.”
“When you’re getting eight minutes [on special teams] compared to the previous year, where he’s probably getting four to five minutes… you’re trying to manage a guy physically, and not put him in a place where he’s going to get injured either.”
Pettersson is playing fewer minutes now than he did when Horvat and Miller were on the team. (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)
Despite the rationale, Pettersson finished with 18:50 of average ice time during the Canucks last two games. That ranked fourth on the team, and nearly three minutes behind his linemate, Conor Garland.
Back in 2022-23, Pettersson averaged over 20 minutes per game on a team that had both Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller.
Clearly, Boudreau would handle things differently if he were still coaching the Canucks.
“I’m surprised, he doesn’t look like he’s handling the puck enough,” Boudreau said. “When he’s got the puck, then things are created. He needs to have the puck to be able to draw people in to make plays.”
“If Vancouver wants to go anywhere and wants to win, then I mean, automatically he’s got to be the head of the snake.”
“He’s got to be the guy that creates everything.”