The Vancouver Canucks have signed forward Elias Pettersson to an 8 year, $92.8M contract extension the club announced Saturday.
Pettersson, who was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, will now be tied to the club through the 2031-32 campaign at an AAV of $11.6M per season.
Originally drafted 5th overall by the Canucks in 2017, the 25 year old had a breakout season in 2022-23 scoring 102 points (39G, 63A) and was enjoying a repeat performance this year with 75 points (29G, 46A) through 62 contests.
The signing brings an end to the ongoing discussion about the Swedish centre’s future on the West Coast, as numerous rumours about potential trades had been making the rounds of late. As recently as last week, reports indicated that Vancouver and Carolina were in “advanced stages” of a potential blockbuster trade before the club ultimately opted to circle back a final time to try to hammer out an extension.
Pettersson currently ranks second on the Canucks and 10th in the NHL in scoring this season, and is a huge part of why Vancouver currently finds itself atop the Pacific Division standings at 38-17-7.
The new deal places the 6’2″ forward just ahead of David Pastrnak ($11.25M) in terms of AAV, but still comfortably behind the likes of other high profile centres Auston Matthews ($13.25M) and Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6M).
With their star centre now locked up for the foreseeable future, Vancouver can now turn their full attention to continuing to add to their roster ahead of the March 8th NHL trade deadline. The Canucks are next in action Sunday evening vs. the Anaheim Ducks in an 8pm ET showdown.
Photo: Matt.davs. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.