According to multiple reports, Vancouver Canucks star center Elias Petterson has signed an eight-year contract extension to remain with the club.
The deal is reportedly worth a total of $92.8 million over the eight years for an average annual value of $11.6 million dollars. The deal is the fourth richest in the history of the league in terms of total value, and it comes with a full no-movement clause in the final seven seasons.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported earlier this week that trade negotiations between the Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes had progressed to a point where both the Canucks and Petterson had to think long and hard about the relationship between the two parties.
A trade of Petterson in the middle of the fantastic season that the Canucks are having over stalled contract negotiations would have been a disaster of epic proportions in the eyes of the fan base.
This team has waited a long time to reach contention status again, and having to trade away their young star player rather than extending him would have burned all of the good will that the team had built up after struggling for a whole decade.
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What This Means For Elias Petterson and the Canucks
The Canucks now have some extremely valuable certainty that their most crucial building block will be around for the long term and how much it will cost to have him there.
Petterson and captain Quinn Hughes are both tied up for the foreseeable future, but the Canucks don't have a lot on the books long term outside of those two and J.T. Miller.
Hughes is the only key defenseman that the team has under contract for next season, and the Canucks will have to utilize their cap space to either retain their current group or go out and improve it in the trade market and free agency.
The contract is a win-win for both sides, as it provides the Canucks with certainty while Petterson gets rewarded for his outstanding performance this season as he led the Canucks to the top of the Pacific Division in a season they were expected to just compete for a wild card spot.
As of right now, Elias Petterson will be the fifth-highest paid player in the league next season in terms of his cap hit behind Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Artemi Panarin.
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