Pettersson sticking with Canucks long term is the plan, says agent
If Elias Pettersson wants to commit to Vancouver long term, there’s a good chance he’ll ink the richest contract in Canucks history.
And it sounds like he wants to stay.
Pettersson’s agent J.P. Barry spoke positively about his client and the Canucks today on the Got Yer’ Back podcast. The 24-year-old star will enter the last year of his contract next season and is able to sign a contract extension on July 1.
“They do want to get together sometime this summer or early fall, at least, in the next few months, to try and talk about the future,” Barry told hosts Pierre LeBrun and Ryan Rishaug. “We’ve stayed in contact. Elias, he’s thinking about it. I think it’s going to happen. I think we’re going to sit down this summer. We’re going to talk about staying there long term. That is the plan right now.”
Some have wondered if Pettersson might be hesitant to sign a long-term extension with the Canucks, given how poorly the franchise has been run for most of the last decade. While Pettersson will technically be under club control when his current deal expires, recent examples have shown that elite players do have power in this situation.
The quickest way out of town would be to refuse to sign anything more than a one-year extension, which would walk him to free agency. That’s what Matthew Tkachuk did last summer, which effectively forced the Calgary Flames to trade him.
The question now is, how much money is he looking for? Pettersson is eligible to sign a contract length of up to eight years. The highest cap hit in the NHL next season belongs to Nathan MacKinnon, at $12.6 million. Pettersson will surely come in under that number but above the $8 million average annual salary of J.T. Miller.
Could Pettersson become the first Canucks player to have a cap hit north of $10 million?
Mathew Barzal, who Barry has compared Pettersson to before, signed an eight-year contract extension in October, paying him $9.15 million per season.
“We’re going to watch the market,” Barry said.
Stay tuned.
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