The Vancouver Canucks are still looking for a top-two centre, but the Canucks' top-two centres are no longer looking for love.
Both Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil got married during the 2025 offseason, tying the knot with their respective significant others.
Chytil got married in July to his longtime partner Nikol Hlavackova, who he has been dating for over seven years, judging from his Instagram posts. He shared a few photos from the wedding on Instagram.
"It was nice to see the whole family together, from my part and from the side of my wife as well," said Chytil on the 100% Canucks podcast. "And see all of my friends. Most of my friends play hockey as well, and they play in North America as well, so we don't see each other that much during the season."
Chytil said it was a small wedding with around 50 people, just their "closest friends and closest family."
It's been a busy year for Chytil. He got traded to the Canucks as part of the J.T. Miller deal in January, which meant a major move across the continent. In an interesting note, Chytil was already calling Nikol his wife back in January, though that may be a result of English being his second language.
"We were in Boston that day and I was watching a movie," said Chytil about what he was doing at the time of the trade. “I was calling with my wife and one of the other wives from one of my teammates texted to my wife that it’s happening. I had no idea. I was just sitting there and, in the moment, I was very happy. Sometimes it’s a shock — of course, it’s a first for me that I’m moving to a different team — but honestly, I was very excited about it.”
While Pettersson has yet to speak about his marriage, Canucks fans have spotted a ring on his finger in recent photos, along with other clues. But it wasn't until Swedish website Expressen confirmed the marriage that it was known for certain that he married Katelyn Byrd, an American model and influencer.
According to Expressen, the two got married in Sweden during Midsummer in late June and the marriage was registered at the Swedish Tax Agency in July.
Byrd has over 320,000 followers on Instagram, ahead of Pettersson's 218,000 followers. One of the clues to the couple's marriage before it was confirmed was that she started a YouTube channel under the name Katelyn Byrd Pettersson, though the channel does not yet have any content.
How will this affect the Canucks? Probably not at all, though there's something to be said for the peace of mind of having your romantic life sorted out off the ice.
Perhaps that peace of mind will enable Pettersson and Chytil to carry the load as the team's top-six centres, since the Canucks can't seem to find another second-line centre.
