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What Fraser Minten’s new deal with Bruins tells us about Liam Öhgren’s next Canucks contract

Photo credit: © Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

By Lachlan Irvine

Sep 9, 2026, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 9, 2026, 14:37 EDT

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When one contract negotiation ends, there’s little time for the front office to celebrate. It’s time to work on the next deal. In the Vancouver Canucks’ case, the next man up is Liam Öhgren.

Once considered the throw-in piece in last year’s Quinn Hughes trade, Öhgren made a decent first impression during his first half-season in Vancouver. Now Öhgren is a year away from hitting restricted free agency, and after teammate Zeev Buium cashed in early with a massive eight-year deal worth $9.38 million per year, everyone’s attention has turned to the 22-year-old as the next young Canuck in line for a payday.

So far, all is quiet around Öhgren’s camp and the Canucks, according to Chek’s Rick Dhaliwal. Unless something fundamental changes, the odds are low that we’ll see him sign before the season starts. Öhgren himself spoke to The Hockey News’ Adam Kierszenblat about the prospect of signing an eight-year deal before the NHL’s new CBA rules kick in on September 15, and he wasn’t exactly banking on that outcome.

Adam Kierszenblat

@Adamkblat

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Replying to @Adamkblat

#Canucks Liam Öhgren: "I don't know. I haven't heard that much. I know my agent's been talking to them a little bit, but there hasn't been anything special. And yeah, what I know, it's not something on the board I think."

6:50 PM · Sep 7, 2026

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It’s tough to project where Öhgren fits into the Canucks’ plans at this point in time. But we do have a fresh comparable under the league’s skyrocketing salary cap in a local kid.

On Tuesday, Fraser Minten signed a seven-year extension with the Bruins worth $7.2 million per year. Minten, a Vancouver native, was drafted 19 spots after Öhgren – 38th overall – at the 2022 Draft. And like Öhgren, Minten was set to become an RFA in the spring of 2027. But the Bruins decided they had enough data to commit long-term to the big piece acquired in the Brandon Carlo trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Minten and Öhgren are not perfect comparables for each other – both play left wing, while Minten’s natural position is centre – but they do have similarities. Minten had 35 points last season in Boston, but sits third on the Bruins’ centre depth chart behind Pavel Zacha and former Canuck Elias Lindholm.

Öhgren had just 18 points in 51 games with the Canucks (along with zero in 18 games with Minnesota). But the Swede also found himself consistently playing second-line minutes on the BRÖ Line with Marco Rossi and Brock Boeser. Give the trio a full year to flourish, and Öhgren might find himself in the same points range as Minten did this season.

Minten’s skill set as a two-way player was on full display last year, while Öhgren was stuck on a Canucks team that hemorrhaged scoring chances; Natural Stat Trick had Minten’s Scoring Chance percentage at 51.07% compared to Öhgren’s 38.14%. What Öhgren does have going for him is his strong shot. According to NHL Edge, Öhgren’s average shot speed of 59.45 MPH is a full 10 over Minten’s 49 MPH. It just hasn’t materialized into the same 17 goals Minten has… yet.

And therein lies the biggest difference. Öhgren’s ceiling is more of a mystery to the Canucks than Buium, who the team firmly believes will be leading their defensive group for years. And he’s less crucial to Vancouver’s success right now than Minten is to the Bruins, who still consider themselves capable of competing in the Eastern Conference.

That doesn’t mean that Öhgren isn’t a priority for new Canucks GM Ryan Johnson, but he’s likely prepared to let Öhgren prove what his number is in the upcoming season. The Canucks are in no rush to spend their abundance of cap space and are willing to risk the potential cost savings of signing him now versus after the season.

Minten’s contract also puts a cap on just how big that contract could be. With Minten having more versatility between centre and left wing, it’s doubtful that Öhgren will reach the $7 million mark without a major breakout season offensively. If that ends up coming true, the Canucks would be more than happy to shell out a little extra on a long-term deal, especially with the ever-rising salary cap ceiling. If Öhgren simply matches his production from last season, odds are his next deal will end up more in the ballpark of $4-5 million per year.

What side of that projection Öhgren ends up on will be entirely up to how he performs in 2026-27.

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