In less than a week, the Vancouver Canucks traded for Marcus Pettersson and re-signed him for six years.
The team announced Wednesday it agreed to terms with the defenseman on a contract extension worth $5.5 million annually.
Pettersson was part of the trade that sent him and left winger Drew O’Connor to the Canucks, while forwards Danton Heinen and Melvin Fernstrom, D-man Vincent Desharnais and a conditional 2025 first-round pick went to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the club has agreed to terms with defenceman Marcus Pettersson on a six-year contract extension with a $5.5M AAV. pic.twitter.com/cyafoUM5Xg
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) February 6, 2025
Pettersson’s first look in Vancouver seemed to go well.
“In just a couple of games, Marcus has already shown us the type of leadership, poise and character that we want in a top-four defenseman,” Canucks GM Patrik Allvin said in a news release. “He has a calming influence on the ice, uses his long reach and hockey smarts to break up plays and has a good first pass to help us create more offensively.
“We are extremely happy to get this deal done and look forward to working with him in both the short term and long term.”
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In two games with Vancouver, the 28-year-old is averaging 24:30 of ice time and has three hits and three blocked shots on a pairing with Tyler Myers. He also had a tough matchup against Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon’s line on Tuesday but held him without a point.
Overall this season, Pettersson has three goals and 18 points in 49 games between the Canucks and Penguins. Pettersson had been with Pittsburgh since the 2018-19 campaign when the Anaheim Ducks traded him in exchange for Daniel Sprong. Current Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford was Pittsburgh’s GM at the time.
In 493 career NHL games, Pettersson has 17 goals and 134 assists for 151 points. He also has four assists in 25 playoff games. The Ducks selected him 38th overall pick in the 2014 draft.
The Skelleftea, Sweden, native is finishing up a five-year contract worth $4,025,175 per season, meaning he gets a raise of nearly $1.475 million per campaign with this extension.
The new deal also comes after the NHL and NHLPA announced salary cap projections for the next three seasons. Next year’s upper limit is set at $95.5 million, meaning the team still has $19.6 million in cap space with 17 NHLers under contract.
The Canucks have six pending UFAs remaining, including key right winger Brock Boeser, newly acquired O’Connor and goaltender Kevin Lankinen. There should be space to fit those three in with raises if there’s a good fit for each player beyond this season.
As for the long term, Pettersson and Filip Hronek are now signed into the 2030s – Pettersson through 2031 and Hronek through 2032. Captain Quinn Hughes is signed through the 2027-28 season. And on offense, center Elias Pettersson and left winger Jake DeBrusk are also signed into the 2030s. Allvin, Rutherford and Canucks management are trying to lock in their key pieces for years to come as they pursue the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Right now, the team just needs to make the playoffs. They’re tied with the Calgary Flames in points, with 59 each, and they have the same number of games played, regulation wins and games won without needing a shootout. But Calgary holds the fourth tie-breaker, which is total wins – 26 for the Flames and 24 for the Canucks.
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