Canucks sign top prospect Elias Pettersson

The Vancouver Canucks have inked a major part of their future.

The team signed Swedish prospect Elias Pettersson to a three-year entry-level contract this morning, nearly a year after drafting him 5th overall in the 2017 NHL entry draft.

Last June we drafted him fifth overall. Since then he’s become an SHL and World Champion. Today he signed with the #Canucks. Welcome to Vancouver @_EPettersson! pic.twitter.com/Xij5hvAc8b

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) May 25, 2018

"Elias is a talented offensive player with tremendous vision and skill," said GM Jim Benning. "Like most Canucks fans we watched with excitement the incredible season he had in Sweden.”

“This is an important offseason of training and development for Elias and we expect him to be ready to challenge for a roster spot in training camp."

The 19-year-old had a historic season in Sweden, leading the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) in both regular season and playoff scoring.

He led his team to the SHL Championship while earning himself Rookie of the Year, Best Forward, League MVP and Playoff MVP honours.

Highlights galore. When you have the type of MVP season @_EPettersson had, there’s highlights for days. pic.twitter.com/rO4pymArU9

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) May 25, 2018

His point totals set a new SHL record for scoring by a U20 player, knocking off NHL greats like the Sedin twins, Nicklas Backstrom, Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund on the way.

He was also a part of Sweden’s gold medal winning World Championship team and silver medal winning World Junior Championship team.

Pettersson was also listed as the number one player outside the NHL this year, according to hockey analyst Craig Button.

He's proved everything he can outside of the NHL and it's likely that he'll be wearing a Canucks jersey when the 2018-19 NHL season begins in October.