There was a latest push on extension talks between the Canucks and middle Elias Pettersson, and it seems that push helped get a deal over the end line. The staff announced that they’ve inked Pettersson to an eight-year contract extension. The staff didn’t disclose the contract’s monetary phrases, however Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that the deal is price $92.8M in complete for an AAV of $11.6M.
Vancouver drafted the 25-year-old within the first spherical (fifth general) again in 2017, and since then, he has gone from being a key core piece to a respectable franchise participant. Pettersson gained the Calder Trophy in his rookie marketing campaign in 2018-19 the place he had 66 factors and adopted that up with 66 extra the next season. However, an injury-riddled 2020-21 season in the end resulted within the two sides selecting a three-year bridge deal, which was set to expire this summer time the place he would have been a restricted free agent with wage arbitration eligibility and a 12 months away from unrestricted free company.
Pettersson made an enormous leap on the offensive facet of issues final season, setting new profession highs throughout the board with 39 targets and 63 assists, ending tenth in NHL scoring. That fuelled hypothesis that the 2 sides would work out a long-term settlement final summer time and put any hypothesis to relaxation. However, Pettersson and his camp repeatedly indicated that he most well-liked to wait till the offseason earlier than figuring out his subsequent contract.
This season, Pettersson’s per-game averages are down simply barely as he’s on tempo for 38 targets and 61 assists, that are nonetheless upper-tier league-wide whereas he’s an all-situations participant. That had solely helped spur on hypothesis about his willingness to sign long-term with the Canucks since he was nonetheless wanting to wait till the offseason to put pen to paper on his subsequent contract. That hypothesis received to the purpose the place Vancouver and Carolina reportedly entered into severe discussions about a potential trade before Vancouver and Pettersson took a step back and opted to take a real run at hammering out a new deal, which proved fruitful.
The contract is by far the richest in franchise history, an outcome that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering Pettersson’s recent performance and the high demand for top-end centers. The deal will make him the fifth-highest-paid player AAV-wise in the NHL next season behind only Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Artemi Panarin.
Vancouver has a little over $60M in spending on the books for next season per CapFriendly to just a dozen players with Filip Hronek headlining their crop of restricted free agents. Of note, only two full-time regular defensemen are under contract for 2024-25 so GM Patrik Allvin will need to allocate a lot of their remaining money to filling out the back end. Meanwhile, Pettersson is now one of just three Canucks under contract past the 2026-27 campaign, joining center J.T. Miller and blueliner Quinn Hughes.
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