The Vancouver Canucks’ top mission this offseason was to find another centre to help complement Filip Chytil in the middle six. They set their sights on Christian Dvorak as their top target and threw both big money and term at him, despite him not panning out in his last destination with the Montreal Canadiens.

But it still wasn’t enough to entice Dvorak, as he wound up betting on himself, taking a one-year, $5.4 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. And it paid off.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Monday evening that they had come to an agreement with centreman Christian Dvorak on a five-year, $5.15 million AAV extension.

Dvorak, 29, fully transformed into the Flyers’ top centre, and the points have followed. Through just 39 games, Dvorak has nine goals and 25 points, with a plus-eight rating in 17:06 minutes of average ice time. The Palos, Illinois native is on an 82-game pace to set career highs in goals (19), assists (34) and points (53) in his first year with the Flyers.

He has spent most of his time skating on a line with Trevor Zegras, who was also acquired by the Flyers this summer. The duo has played a big part in the Flyers’ competitiveness this season, as they currently hold the top spot in the Eastern Conference Wild Card and are just four points out of the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.

Looking back, Dvorak made the right decision not to come to Vancouver. The reported offer from the Canucks to Dvorak was a three-year, $4 million AAV contract. He may have gotten similar deployment as a top-line centre, especially with the number of injuries the Canucks suffered down the middle, but he wouldn’t have the same supporting cast to help him thrive.

Instead, he earned $1.4 million more this season and played in a more favourable offensive environment, which helped him secure a long-term contract in his preferred location. Now, he’ll make $25.75 million more over the next five seasons with the Flyers, rather than having two more years on a deal with a rebuilding/retooling Canucks.