For some, the plan is already set in stone. After completing his recently signed five-year extension, Macklin Celebrini will become an unrestricted free agent. And with no restrictions, he’ll obviously choose to sign in his hometown of Vancouver at that time. Probably at a discount, too, especially after his buddy Connor Bedard signed there the summer prior.

At that point, the Canucks’ rebuild will have been completed, and it’ll then add a true superstar onto the top of it, all but sealing the deal on a dynasty run.

Well, you can’t blame folks for dreaming. Especially not when Celebrini is probably the best BC-born player to hit the league since Joe Sakic (and maybe ever), and especially not when his latest contract extension walks him right to UFA status at the age of 26.

In reality, anyone who is outright counting on this outcome is probably setting themselves up for disappointment. But there’s probably enough interest here to at least do a little thinking ahead about where the Canucks themselves might be when Celebrini theoretically becomes available again. And it’s a long wait, so what better than some idle speculation to fill the time?

The time, for the record, is six more years. Though Celebrini signed a five-year extension, he did so with one year left on his entry-level contract. Celebrini is still on the books for this upcoming 2026-27 season at a base cap hit of $975,000, plus performance bonuses, and then his five-year extension kicks in as of July 1, 2027. At that point, he’ll have the highest cap hit in the league at $18.8 million – unless someone else usurps that title in the meantime.

The year, then, is 2032. Unless he signs yet another extension in between, Celebrini will become a UFA as of July 1, 2032. It’s a date so far into the future as to almost sound like science fiction. (In fact, according to science fiction, it’s the year in which Demolition Man is supposed to take place, so get your three seashells ready.) It’s such a long way away in hockey terms that it’s difficult to really say too much about where the Canucks themselves might be at that point in time. But it is possible to say at least a little.

It’s probably worth starting with the fact that, as of July 1, 2032, the Canucks have quite literally nothing on the books currently. Their three longest-contracted players right now, those being Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Filip Hronek, all have their current deals expire on the exact same day that Celebrini hits UFA. If the Canucks have kept all three until then – which does seem a bit unlikely – they’ll see a whopping $26.1 million in cap space become available from just those three expiries alone.

One would hope that $26.1 million is enough to land Celebrini, but the way salary inflation is going right now, we’d actually kind of doubt it.

Of course, the Canucks will have some other contracts on the books in 2032; they just haven’t signed any of them yet. We can, however, make some predictions about where certain players will be at in their contractual cycles, at least.

The next big extension coming to the Canucks should go to Zeev Buium. Like his draft-mate Celebrini, Buium is about to play through the final year of his ELC. Most in the fanbase and mediasphere wish to see the Canucks sign Buium for as long as is possible. Up until September 15 of this year, that would be an eight-year term. After that, it’s down to a seven-year maximum.

If the Canucks were successful in getting Buium signed to a truly long-term deal, he’d still be under contract in 2032, and likely at a bargain rate by then, based on inflation and his natural progression. But, then again, that’s a factor that Buium and his camp have to be considering during these current negotiations. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Buium choose a shorter contract, as many RFAs have of late, and that could be a five-year term. If that were the case, Buium would see his contract run out at the exact same time as Celebrini, at which point he’d definitely be in line for a raise. That could be an extra complication in any 2032 UFA pursuits, but so long as the Canucks keep their books relatively clean until then, it doesn’t have to be a limitation.

The next most-important player currently on the roster is Tom Willander, and he’s on an even longer timeline, as his ELC doesn’t expire until 2028. Chances seem very good that whatever second contract he signs, he’s still on it come 2032. The same goes for the younger Elias Pettersson, though he’s of a little less importance.

Other young players currently on or around the roster are a little tougher to prognosticate. Who really knows what sort of term the Canucks will hand Liam Öhgren on his own post-ELC contract? Who knows if Aatu Räty will establish himself as a long-time NHLer? Who knows if Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Victor Mancini, or Kirill Kudryavtsev ever make it full-time?

A couple of names that are a little easier to project, given their high-end talent, are currently skating for Team Canada at the World Junior Summer Showcase. Braeden Cootes still has all three years left on his ELC after having last year ‘slide,’ so he won’t even see his second contract kick in until 2029.

Caleb Malhotra hasn’t signed his ELC yet. It’s possible he does so at the tail-end of this upcoming NHL season, and it’s possible he does so in a way that ‘burns’ a year of his ELC, at which point he’d be on the exact same extension timeline as Cootes. Otherwise, Malhotra’s ELC probably begins in 2027-28, and then he’d be eligible for his first extension in 2030. (Which, just to reinforce how long of a timeline we’re talking about here, is still two years ahead of Celebrini’s UFA status.)

It’s probably safe to assume that the majority of veterans currently on the Canucks’ roster will have come and gone by 2032. Luke Schenn will be 42, Jamie Oleksiak will be 39, and even Jake DeBrusk will be 35. You might get one or two of them sticking around in support roles, like maybe a Linus Karlsson or a Marco Rossi, but that’s probably it.

Suffice it to say, then, that when the summer of 2032 hits, the Canucks will be very, very different, but not so different as to be unrecognizable. If all has gone relatively well with the rebuild, then the major pieces already in place – like Buium, Willander, Cootes, and Malhotra – will all be under contract and well into their personal primes. One has to hope that the rest of the roster has been built up with other draft picks and acquisitions in the meantime, and if that process is successful enough, then there should be plenty of reason – and plenty of cap space – for Celebrini to want to join the party at that point in time.

And if you’re sitting there thinking “that’s a lot of ifs,” you’re absolutely correct. But this early in what is hoped to be a lengthy rebuild process, we’ve got time on our hands for ifs right now.