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Canucks Roundtable: Predicting deals for Pettersson and Hughes

By Brayden Ursel

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - JANUARY 24: (L-R) Quinn Hughes #43 and Elias Pettersson #40 of the Vancouver Canucks take part in the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills competition at the Enterprise Center on January 24, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - JANUARY 24: (L-R) Quinn Hughes #43 and Elias Pettersson #40 of the Vancouver Canucks take part in the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills competition at the Enterprise Center on January 24, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

It’s been a while since The Canuck Way has published a roundtable article about the Vancouver Canucks. One where our writers weigh in on a specific topic. Today, that happens to be about the upcoming contracts Jim Benning needs to sort out for two elite-level hockey players in Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

Vancouver’s dangerous duo has exceeded expectations through their first three seasons in the National Hockey League, and they’re due for a hefty raise worth a heck of a lot more than their entry-level contracts. Let’s dive into what some of The Canuck Way writers’ predictions are!

Brayden Ursel – Site Expert

For a player who weighed no more than 170 pounds in his first NHL season, Pettersson burst onto the scene and instantly became the Canucks’ best player. He scored 10 goals in his first 10 NHL games before going on to finish his rookie campaign with 66 points — enough to not only win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie but to surpass Pavel Bure for the most points by a rookie in Canucks history as well.

Pettersson repeated his 66-point rookie season the following year — only this time — he had the added benefit of Hughes dishing him the puck all season long. The two young guns elevated the Canucks’ power play to the fourth-best in the league, and Hughes’ 53 points were enough for him to lead all rookies in points that year and finish the season as a Calder finalist who pushed the Canucks into a playoff spot for the first time in five seasons.

That’s where Hughes and Pettersson really put the doubters in their place. Playoff hockey was what a lot of people thought would expose Vancouver’s elite as just good regular-season point producers who would struggle in a playoff atmosphere, but they were dead wrong. En route to a Western Conference semi-final Game 7, Pettersson notched 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) through 17 games and Hughes broke records for a rookie defenceman in the playoffs when he tallied 16 points (two goals, 14 assists).

Now that this season’s trade deadline has passed, Benning and co will begin working on hammering out a deal for the dynamic duo. Keep in mind that Pettersson and Hughes will be represented by the same agent, J.P. Barry.

The pair could attempt to enter negotiations as a unit. If that’s the case, what one player gets paid is likely what the other player will demand in return. The tricky part of this all is how Benning has decided to go about his signings. He’s prioritized goaltending and secondary scoring before ironing out new deals for the team’s best players.

As it stands right now, CapFriendly believes Vancouver will have about $16 million in spending money for the 2021-22 season, but that’s before any players (Micheal Ferland, Jay Beagle) could potentially go back on the team’s long term injury reserve (LTIR), freeing up their cap hit and giving the Canucks more money to spend if that happens to be the case.

In the end, I think Benning will find a way to lock up his players for the long run. Two identical contracts that are both six years in length with an average annual value of $8.5 million.

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