Elias Pettersson avoids becoming an RFA this summer by signing an eight-year contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks. Elias Pettersson [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA0NzM3OTM1NTQxNTQ0NDQw/usatsi_22657384_168400847_lowres.jpg] Elias Pettersson The Vancouver Canucks re-signed top center Elias Pettersson to an eight-year contract extension, the team announced Saturday. Pettersson will get $11.6 million per year, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman [https://x.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1763945443178758257?s=20]. He's currently in the final season of a three-year contract worth $7.35 million annually and would have been an RFA upon expiry had he not signed an extension. His new contract kicks in next season and lasts through the 2031-32 campaign. It also carries a full no-move clause, according to Pierre LeBrun [https://x.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1763954497192173754?s=20] and Chris Johnston [https://x.com/reporterchris/status/1763953137612665201?s=20] of TSN and The Athletic. The 25-year-old from Sundsvall, Sweden, ranks second on the Canucks and 10th in the NHL in scoring this season, with 75 points. His 29 goals and 46 assists each rank third on the team. In five season with the Canucks, Pettersson has 387 career games played, 165 goals, 233 assists and 398 points. The fifth overall pick in 2017 also has 18 points in 17 playoff games, but that could increase this spring as the Canucks rank fourth in the NHL and are on their way to ending a three-year playoff drought. At the beginning of the season and in January [https://www.nhl.com/news/elias-pettersson-still-not-ready-to-sign-new-contract], Pettersson said his preference was to hold off on contract extensions until the end of the campaign. President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford told reporters in January [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks/news/canucks-executives-discusses-state-of-elias-petterssons-contract-extension] the team could wait since Pettersson couldn't walk as an RFA with arbitration rights after the year. But this signing comes two days after Friedman reported the Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes were in trade discussions involving Pettersson [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks/latest-news/vancouver-canucks-elias-pettersson-carolina-hurricanes-trade]. It reportedly got to a point where the team and Pettersson had to discuss what their plans were and what decisions they would make about the future. Just like that, the two parties got a deal done to keep Pettersson in Vancouver for a long time. With 102 points last season, Pettersson is on pace for 99 this time around, and that's before the eight years even begin. Recent contract extensions by other 100-point players in the NHL include Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak, who signed an eight-year deal worth $11.25 million that kicked in this season, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, whose five-year extension worth $13.25 million begins next season, and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who's already hit 100 points in the first year of an eight-year contract worth $12.6 million annually. For more reaction, stay tuned to THN.com and check out The Hockey News' Vancouver Canucks site [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks/latest-news/elias-pettersson-contract-extension-vancouver-canucks].
