An emergency episode to talk about Elias Pettersson’s 8 year contract extension: Canucks Conversation
4 months ago
On today’s emergency episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Irfaan Gaffar broke down Elias Pettersson’s 8-year, $92.8 million contract which was signed Saturday morning.
“From a Canucks perspective, they’re happy they got it under 12 million dollars,” said Irf. “He’s now the 5th-highest-paid player in the NHL, and that’s an elite bag for Pettersson – 47 million dollars in signing bonuses, a full no-move clause. A very tidy piece of business. The Canucks were trying to get something done before the trade deadline; he obviously was and is their biggest target. Now we can put the arguments to rest: Elias Pettersson will be here for at least 8 more years.”
“8 more years at a pretty favorable cap hit,” continued Quads, who noted a good current comparable being William Nylander who signed an extension with the Leafs in early January. “I look at that and say, ‘Nylander doesn’t play the premium position of center, doesn’t put up as many points as Pettersson, Pettersson is going to be in the Selke conversation for years’. I’m not trying to bag on Nylander, just illustrating where the cap is going, this is a pretty good value contract the Canucks have signed here.”
“The Carolina Hurricanes did call the Canucks, and there were talks of what a framework could look like,” said Irf. “From the Canucks’ point of view, no matter what, the last 2 weeks before the deadline, they were always going to talk to Pettersson and his camp. That’s one thing we need to make clear: the Canucks wanted to know what direction Elias Pettersson was thinking – if he didn’t want to do it, or wanted to wait, or if they could get it done now. That was always the plan, and then they started talking. Contract talks did start to intensify early in the week, and they were able to hammer it out.”
“This is a decision that isn’t made lightly,” Irf stated. “When you look at Pettersson’s standpoint, the things he had to look at – he knew how much he was going to get paid – I don’t think the finances had anything to do with it. Because economically, he was going to be taken care of. It was the fit; it’s how much he believes in this team, the direction they’re going, and was he willing to be here for the foreseeable future? Obviously, the answer is yes. From other players’ perspectives, this saga is over. Now it’s time to focus on getting ready for the playoffs, let the management do their thing for the next week, and let’s go. To be completely honest, if we look at strictly hockey, they haven’t been playing well – Pettersson is one of them, but none of their stars are playing well of late. This is done now; it’s time to focus on winning hockey games.”
“He’s getting paid like an elite hockey player, and he probably could’ve gotten more,” Irf continued. “The Canucks kept it under 12, but I bet they were willing to go there. He’s getting paid like a top-5 guy now, and the criticism is going to start to come even more because he’s going to need to perform like a top-5 guy as well.”
You can watch the full replay in the video below:
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