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Jim Rutherford says Canucks and Pius Suter had a ‘miscommunication’ during contract negotiations
Photo credit: © Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Nov 14, 2025, 11:53 EST
Obviously, the Vancouver Canucks could use a centre right now. And they could certainly use some help on their penalty kill as well. Naturally, these two areas of weakness for the 2025-26 Canucks have led many to wonder how the Canucks lost a player who filled both of these needs: Pius Suter.
Suter walked from the Canucks in free agency, signing a two-year deal with an annual average value of $4.125 million. Given that the Canucks gave up an asset to acquire the full freight of Evander Kane’s $5.125 million contract five days before free agency opened, Suter’s cap hit shouldn’t have been a problem for the Canucks to fit onto their books. But it sounds like the Canucks were under the impression that Suter wasn’t going to sign a deal with term as low as two years.
Speaking with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre in a Q&A format, Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford said that there seemed to be a miscommunication between the Canucks and Suter during contract negotiations. According to MacIntyre, Rutherford even said that the Canucks would have considered bringing Suter back for longer than two years. Here is the full quote:
Sportsnet: Another guy who was out first on every PK last season, centre Pius Suter, left in free agency for just a two-year contract in St. Louis at $4.125 million per. Do you regret not keeping him?
Rutherford: I was going to mention him earlier. He was a guy that we thought we were still in on when he went to St Louis. And I know he wanted to come back here. There seemed to be some miscommunication on term (based on) what it eventually ended up. We would have considered bringing him back (for longer than two years), but it didn’t work out.
Suter, who potted a career-high 25 goals in 2024-25, is fitting in nicely in St. Louis. Already up to five goals and five assists on the season, Suter is on pace to finish just one goal shy of the mark he set in 24-25 and with more points overall. He’s been a mainstay on both the Blues’ power play and penalty kill so far this season as well. So while the Canucks continue their search for a centre, we’re left to wonder what could have been had the Canucks and Suter been able to come to an agreement on a new contract this past offseason.
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