Vancouver Canucks sign Jake Virtanen to two-year contract extension

The Vancouver Canucks have signed forward Jake Virtanen to a two-year contract extension.

News of the new deal that will see Virtanen and the club avoid heading to arbitration was broken by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

His new deal will pay him an AAV of $2.55-million.

Virtanen, 24, scored 18 goals and as many assists in 69 games with the Canucks last season. According to hockeyviz.com, he provided offence at seven percent above league average and defence at a three percent rate below league average.

Playing as a third liner, he posted a 49.29 CF%, a 47.91 xG% and a goals for rate of 47.69 percent.

The club issued Virtanen a qualifying offer on Oct. 6 and his new deal is a doubling of his previous $1.25-million salary.

According to PuckPedia, the deal means the Canucks are $1.19-million over the $81.5-million salary cap. That number does assume the burial of Sven Baertschi’s contract, but doesn’t include the possibility of Michael Ferland hitting the LTIR.

On Twitter: @zjlaing