Jim Nice of CAA on Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes’ contract negotiations

Jim Nice from CAA — the agency representing both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes — joined the Show Me the Money Hockey Podcast and said some things that should be of interest to Canucks fans.

Nice discussed the philosophy and leverage of going into negotiations with “the whole pie” on their side, and talked about how the situations are similar yet different to the one CAA had on their hands with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane a few years back.

“Chicago was very upfront with how they wanted to treat Jonathan and Patrick in exactly the same way,” said Nice. “That negotiation, in terms of getting to the number, was relatively easy. With Petey and Quinn, it’s a little different because they play different positions and so the market is different for them. It goes down to like, we have to work with the team to see what they can afford in terms of term. They have some cap issues, so like, do we want to go long-term with one and short-term with the other? Do both players want short-term?”

There were earlier reports that the Canucks had begun talking to Hughes and Pettersson, but it sounds like nothing of substance has started just yet, due to the past uncertainty around the Canucks’ hockey ops department.

“We’ve had some preliminary conversations with both the players, and we almost started with Vancouver, but then there were all these rumours that Jim was going to be let go and Travis was going to be let go and they’re both going to be back, so that’s going to open up the conversation a little bit. Now at least we know we have some stability, the players know what to expect from them.”

“I don’t think it’s going to happen overnight for either of those, those guys,” added Nice. “Obviously they’re the two most important players on that team, so, we’re lucky to be in those conversations with both of them. And like you said, we can sort of take the whole pie and figure out how we want to slice it.”

We will keep you updated all offseason long on the negotiations with the Canucks’ two cornerstone pieces.