The date of July 1 is typically a very important one on the NHL calendar, and one especially important for the Vancouver Canucks. It’s Canada Day, of course. More hockey-specifically, it’s also the opening day of the Free Agent Frenzy, when expiring UFA contracts formally expire and new ones are signed – usually at a very expensive rate.

But something also happens on July 1 each year that doesn’t get as much attention, and that’s the official transition from the previous contractual season to the next one. For all those contracts that don’t expire this offseason, July 1, 2025, will mark the point at which they switch over from the 2024/25 season to the 2025/26 season.

This could mean a change in salary, in bonus structure, or – as you’ve probably guessed from the content of the headline – in trade protection clauses.

Now, one trade-protection-related change has drawn a lot of attention already, and we’ll be covering that one first. But Elias Pettersson Sr. is not the only Canuck who will be gaining a protective clause as of July 1, 2025. So, too, will four others.

Pettersson gains a full no-movement clause for the remaining seven seasons of his latest contract. The reason he’s getting it now, and not in the first year of this extension, is his age – only seasons in which a player would have reached UFA status are eligible to include protective clauses.

This is the one we alluded to in the intro, because it’s received by far the most attention in the media and fanbase. The general thrust of that discussion has been a notion that, if the Canucks were to trade Pettersson, they’d want to do so before the NMC kicked in, so as to keep their full array of options open. There’s also a touch of ‘now-or-never’ to it, as once the NMC is in effect, it remains so until the year 2032.

Most times, it’s considered a bit unethical to sign someone to an extension and then trade them right before their trade protection takes effect. However, one could also argue that Pettersson’s situation is unique, given how he has performed since signing the extension.

In any case, for our money, a Pettersson trade is still highly unlikely, and the odds are best that he’ll remain with the Canucks past July 1 and the start of this clause.

Sticking with the forward corps for now, O’Connor begins the two-year extension he signed not terribly long after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins as a pending UFA. O’Connor had no form of protective clause on his previous deal, but he gains a 12-team no-trade clause with this new contract for both of its seasons.

As you’ll see later on in the article, the ’12-team NTC’ seems to be the ‘C-tier’ trade protection package that the Canucks prefer, with the scale sliding from NMC to 15-team NTC to 12-team NTC. It’s not a particularly restrictive clause, but it does give O’Connor a little extra security, something that was no doubt valuable for him after switching addresses and being asked to commit to his new home so quickly.

From a team perspective, some might be lightly chagrined at the idea of a clear-cut bottom-sixer receiving trade protection of any sort, but that was a standard the Canucks set themselves with a couple of their previous contracts. In the end, they were probably able to save a few bucks in salary in exchange for this clause, and made the calculation that it’d ultimately be worth it. Two years ain’t that long, after all.

Pettersson is getting all the headlines, but he’s not the only Canuck to go from no protection to full protection on July 1. Hronek, too, gains a full NMC in year two of his ongoing extension. Unlike Pettersson, however, Hronek’s NMC only runs for three seasons, then switches to a 15-team NTC in the summer of 2028 for the final four seasons of the contract.

There has been some chatter about this, and it’s similar to the Pettersson chatter – meaning, if the Canucks were going to trade Hronek, they’d be wisest to do for before the NMC kicks in, not after. But with Tom Willander and Victor Mancini still such unknown qualities, we don’t think that’s particularly likely, either.

Keeping him longer won’t impact the market for a top-pairing RD in his prime. It will just, naturally, affect the market of teams Hronek is willing to go to.

Heck, Pettersson isn’t even the only Pettersson to be gaining a NMC this summer. Marcus Pettersson gets one, too, though his story is a little more complicated. Pettersson had an eight-team NTC on his previous contract, signed with the Penguins. That means that, when the Canucks traded for him, they either weren’t one of the eight teams on his no-trade list, or he specifically chose to waive it for them.

Either way, shortly after being acquired by Vancouver, Pettersson signed a six-year extension. The first three years of that deal, which begins on July 1, 2025, contain a full NMC. As of 2028, that switches to a 15-team NTC, which we’re quickly learning is the Canucks’ ‘B-tier’ trade protection package.

With Pettersson having just arrived and been extended, he wasn’t going anywhere, anyway.

The lack of trade protection on Thatcher Demko’s contract has received plenty of attention this offseason. But the Canucks’ crease will not be entirely devoid of clauses after July 1. Lankinen signed a five-year extension mid-season, and that extension begins with a full NMC for two seasons, before switching to the standard 15-team NTC in 2027 for the next and final three seasons of the contract.

For the most immediate future, this might just be the most impactful clause-change for the Canucks. Lankinen is coming off a cheap, one-year, prove-it contract. And prove it, he did. For the Canucks to give Lankinen a new contract extension with trade protection off the back of that performance, only to turn around and trade him before that trade protection kicked in, would be considered dirty pool, and is something best avoided. Not that a Lankinen trade was particularly likely in the first place.

There are few enough players with existing trade protection on the Canucks roster that we might as well just mention them briefly here.

Jake DeBrusk has a NMC in the first three seasons of his current contract, and a 15-team NTC for the remaining four. He’s about to begin the second year of the deal.

Dakota Joshua has a 12-team NTC in all four seasons of his current contract. He is about to begin the second year of the deal.

Teddy Blueger has a 12-team NTC in both seasons of his current contract and is about to begin the second and final year of the deal.

Tyler Myers has a full NMC in the first two seasons of his current contract, then a 12-team NTC in the third and final season. He is about to begin the second year of the deal.