Contract coming? Pettersson's agent reportedly talking to Canucks management

Has Elias Pettersson seen enough? Less than three months after the Vancouver Canucks star centre said he wasn’t in a “rush” to re-sign, it appears his agent is talking contracts with management.

This is according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, who spoke to Canucks GM Patrik Allvin recently at the league’s general managers meetings.

Allvin told Seravalli that he’s had “conversations” with player agent Pat Brisson and met with Pettersson’s Swedish agent two weeks ago.

“We’re continuing to talk there and see where things go. Hopefully we’ll get it done sooner rather than later,” Allvin said in a Daily Faceoff article published today.

A lot has changed since August, when Pettersson’s comments put Canucks fans in panic mode. With only a year left on his contract, Pettersson is eligible to become a restricted free agent next summer and an unrestricted free agent in 2025. If he wanted out, he could make it happen, like Matthew Tkachuk did in Calgary.

Pettersson has expressed a desire to win and, well, the Canucks have done a lot of losing throughout his first five NHL seasons.

But so far, year six couldn’t be going any better.

Not only does Pettersson lead the league with 25 points in 15 games, but his team has performed better than anyone predicted. The Canucks are off to the best start in franchise history, with an 11-3-1 record.

Where would you rather be than Vancouver?

The price has surely gone up on Pettersson, given how the 25-year-old has performed. He’ll make over $10 million annually on his next contract, and likely more than $11 million. The average annual value of his current contract is $7.35 million.

Nathan MacKinnon has the richest cap hit in the NHL at $12.6 million, which is slightly above the $12.5 million cap hit of Connor McDavid’s contract, which was signed in 2017. Artermi Panarin ($11.6 million), Auston Matthews ($11.6 million), and Erik Karlsson ($11.5 million) round out the top five.

Only 15 NHL players have a cap hit of $10 million or more, though that number is expected to grow as the salary cap is predicted to rise significantly in the coming years.

Only 15 current NHL players have a cap hit of $10 million or more (CapFriendly)

Pettersson previously said in his famed boat interview with Elliotte Friedman that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to sign short-term or long-term. The Swedish star is eligible to sign an extension of up to eight years in term, which would kick in next season and pay him until age 33.

“I still don’t know myself if it’s going to be short-term or long-term. It’s gonna be probably my biggest contract so far and so I don’t want to stress anything,” Pettersson said at the time.

You might also like:
• Will Canucks fans boo or cheer Bo Horvat when he returns?