Major Announcement Made Regarding the Vancouver Canucks' Worst Contract
Photo credit: Bob Frid - USA TODAY Sports
The Athletic has released new data showing the best and worst contracts for each NHL team this coming season and for the Vancouver Canucks, their worst one is a little surprising.
While Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin has been quite busy this summer, he hasn't handed out a ton money, partly because of the team's cap situation and also because this year's free agent class just simply wasn't that great.
Instead of spending money on someone they weren't sure would be a solid fit for the team's top six, the Canucks circled back on Brock Boeser and were able to work out a deal with his camp, signing the American forward to a seven-year contract worth a total of $50.75 million ($7.25 million AAV).
After locking up Brock Boeser and then trading away Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs to open up more money, the Vancouver Canucks' cap situation still isn't great, especially if they want to make another addition and when it comes to their contracts as a whole, The Athletic has given the club a pretty bad ranking.
Vancouver Canucks' worst contract for 2025-26 season has been revealed
On Wednesday, Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic released his annual article looking in-depth at each team's contract situation, as well as who has the best and worst deals on each of the National Hockey League's 32 clubs.
For the Vancouver Canucks, they've seen a drastic drop in their overall ranking, going from 5th in 2024 all the way down to 22nd heading into this coming season with an average positive value of 53% and a total surplus of -$12 million.
A big part of that has to do with adding players like Evander Kane, giving out a rather sizable extension to Kevin Lankinen and re-signing defenseman Derek Forbort - all three of whom have salaries that are more than their market value, according to Luszczyszyn.
While most fans would think that Elias Pettersson has the worst contract on the Vancouver Canucks after signing a seven-year extension worth $11.6 million annually back in March 2024, but it's actually Brock Boeser, a little over a month after putting pen-to-paper on his new deal.
Luszczyszyn gives Brock Boeser's contract a D+ grade, tied with Kevin Lankinen, but the forward's total surplus is -11.6 million with a market value of $5.6 million AAV, $1.7 million more than he's making for the next seven year.
"Vancouver's biggest problem at the moment is the play of Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, neither of whom look to be worth the money after last year's effort. With seven years remaining for both, those two are Vancouver's biggest bets and the entire contention window depends on that duo being worth the money. For now, neither looks the part after a down year and it's helped push the Canucks to the league's bottom half." Luszczyszyn said.
In less than 11 months, Vancouver is set to see three of their not-so-great contracts - Teddy Blueger, Evander Kane and Derek Forbort - come off the books, which could see them rise back up Luszczyszyn's rankings for the 2026-27 season.
Source: Dom Luszczyszyn/The Athletic
NHL contract efficiency rankings 2025: Which teams spend their money most wisely?
NHL contract efficiency rankings 2025: Which teams spend their money most wisely?
| POLL | ||
AOUT 6 | 1267 ANSWERS Major Announcement Made Regarding the Vancouver Canucks' Worst Contract Which Vancouver Canuck do you think has the worst contract heading into the 2025-26 season? | ||
| Elias Pettersson | 724 | 57.1 % |
| Brock Boeser | 135 | 10.7 % |
| Filip Hronek | 201 | 15.9 % |
| Evander Kane | 207 | 16.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
