There are occasionally players with the same name on the same team, such as the NFL’s New York Jets drafting two players named Michael Carter in 2021 or the many times this has happened in soccer. In the NHL, though, while there have been many cases of players with the same name in the league at the same time, the main case of identical first and last names on the same team appears to have been the Vancouver Canucks’ pair of Greg Adamses in 1988-89. Now, the Canucks have done it again, drafting Swedish defenseman Elias Pettersson (seen at left above) 80th overall Friday to join Swedish center Elias Pettersson (taken fifth overall in 2017, seen at right above). Even the team’s Twitter account recognized the absurdity of that:
You heard correctly.
Yes, we did just select Elias Pettersson at the 2022 #NHLDraft.
— X – Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 8, 2022
Same same but different. pic.twitter.com/eMjLN7ScoN
— X – Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 8, 2022
The currently-rostered Pettersson also had thoughts:
Elias Pettersson reacts to the #Canucks selecting Elias Pettersson pic.twitter.com/vbggCr6T5g
— David Quadrelli (@QuadrelliD) July 8, 2022
While the new Pettersson has not yet met the old Pettersson, he did have high praise for him:
Elias Pettersson says he’s never met Elias Pettersson.#Canucks pic.twitter.com/x61vFfIE1X
— Joshua Clipperton (@JClipperton_CP) July 8, 2022
#Canucks third round pick Elias Pettersson says that his favourite player, genuinely, is Elias Pettersson. Of course
— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) July 8, 2022
The multiverse of Elias Petterssons in Vancouver will be a lot of fun for many hockey fans. It may not be as much fun for play-by-play broadcasters, or for fantasy hockey players:
going over your fantasy lineup after the draft and realizing you picked the wrong Elias Pettersson 😅 pic.twitter.com/QucOHC283D
— TSN EDGE (@TSN_Edge) July 8, 2022
We’ll see what the Petterssons and the Canucks come up with to differentiate these players. But at least they’re a team used to having Swedish players with similar names, such as twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin (both currently working in the team’s player development department). And they even have past experience with players with the same exact name from their Greg Adamses.
[The Canuck Way; left photo via Josh Clipperton on Twitter, right photo via Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports]
