The Vancouver Canucks had an interesting start to free agency on Tuesday. After locking up Thatcher Demko and Conor Garland to contracts a year before they became unrestricted free agents, the Canucks agreed to terms with Brock Boeser on a seven-year deal. Ultimately, Vancouver elected to keep the majority of last year's team together, with the only major change being the addition of Evander Kane and subtraction of Pius Suter.
While there had been reports that the Canucks were re-signing Demko and Garland, bringing back Boeser was the surprise move of the day. Based on reports heading into July 1, it was considered highly unlikely that Vancouver was going to re-sign the 28-year-old, ending what would have been a decade-long relationship. Despite the reports, GM Patrik Allvin and Boeser's camp were able to finalize the deal, keeping him with the Canucks for potentially his entire career.
"Yeah, obviously, we've been talking to Connor and Demko here over the last couple of weeks," said Allvin. "And since they left here, they actually expressed a high interest of coming back. Brock has been the same thing. We had an open conversation, and I respect him. He earned his way to get to UFA, but he was always open to see the fit and the role. And after talking to Adam Foote here a couple of weeks ago, the expectations and what he thought that he could contribute more to and how we wanted to play, and he was excited with those other guys coming back, and we re-engaged, and got the deal done. So I'm very, very happy."
BREAKING: Brock Boeser Re-Signs Long-Term With Vancouver Canucks
The Brock Boeser era is officially back on the table for the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks">Vancouver Canucks</a>, as the forward has signed a seven-year, $7.25M AAV contract with the<b> </b>team. This comes after a long season of speculation that Boeser would not be remaining with the team after 2024–25, including a trade deadline that nearly saw the decade-long Canuck depart from the team.
Bringing back an almost identical lineup is risky, especially after the season Vancouver just experienced. After reaching Game 7 of the second round in 2024, the Canucks missed the playoffs last year, leaving many questions about the future of this roster. While Allvin and his team could have made significant changes, instead, they elected to bank on their current players having bounce-back seasons in 2025-26.
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"I think from an outside perspective, obviously, a lot of things went wrong. I think when you talk to the players for different circumstances and reasons, with injuries and all that, then they look back, and there were pockets. When we were healthy, we played really good hockey, ended up with 90 points. And I think they understand that this is something we continue to work on. I do believe that they see the process of the younger players in Abbotsford, what's coming in the pipeline, and I mean, Vancouver is a fantastic market to play in, and I think Adam (Foote) and the new coaching staff here has done a really good job interacting with the players here up to this point, so the belief is there and I'm excited."
With the roster looking all but set, Allvin was asked what he thought about his potential lineup. At the moment, that would include Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil in the top six with some younger players who just won the Calder Cup with the Abbotsford Canucks pushing for spots throughout the lineup. As Allvin explained, while the team will still look to improve the roster throughout the summer, Head Coach Adam Foote is ready to hit the ice with the Canucks current lineup.
Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Conor Garland To Six-Year Contract Extension
It’s official — Conor Garland and the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks">Vancouver Canucks</a> have agreed on a contract extension. The deal, which lasts for six years and will pay Garland an average of $6M per year, will keep Garland under contract with the team until the end of the 2032 season. Had the two sides not agreed on an extension, Garland would have become a free agent at the end of the 2025–26 season.
"Part of the decisions here are communicating with Adam (Foote), and Adam felt very confident starting the season with Petey and Chytil as number one and two. You know, we have a couple of younger centers, (Aatu) Räty, (Max) Sasson, (Ty) Mueller, that are playing really well in Abbotsford and deserve a chance to. But absolutely, this is something we will continue to look at and see what's available. I don't know, there was one center available at the free agent market there today, and no trades. So obviously teams are holding on to centers, so we'll see where it goes. But you know, again, Adam felt really confident in Petey and Chytil being the number one and two here."
Allvin was also asked about the over $5 million in dead cap space this season, and whether or not it impacted what Vancouver was able to do on July 1. the Canucks have a $712,500 dead cap for Ilya Mikheyev, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson's buyout now counts as $4,766,667 against the cap. According to Allvin, while missing that amount of cap space was not ideal, the lack of player signings had more to do with which players were available in free agency this year.
Vancouver Canucks Sign Goaltender Thatcher Demko To Three-Year Contract Extension
The <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks">Vancouver Canucks</a> have officially locked up a big part of their core. With his current deal expiring at the end of the 2025–26, the Canucks agreed to a three-year, $8.5M AAV contract extension with goaltender Thatcher Demko. This move comes only a couple of months after the team <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks/players/ive-been-preparing-for-this-opportunity-for-a-long-time-canucks-kevin-lankinen-speaks-on-signing-long-term-in-vancouver">signed</a> newcomer Kevin Lankinen to a long-term, five-year deal. With both Demko and Lankinen in their ranks, Vancouver’s goaltending comes out to under $15M per year.
"That's something we are aware of when we do our projections and when that happened, that's something you start planning on, and what you have to spend and how you build your roster, and also in the projections, looking at the younger players, where they are and how you can set them up to succeed if they need times in Abbotsford or not. But I don't know if it impacted more than obviously being being a cap hit here. Still wasn't that a lot of players available in the end of the day and some of the players that we talked to expressed their interest of playing in the States and not in Canada too."
The biggest takeaway from the first day of free agency is that Allvin and his management group believe in the roster that they have assembled. They rewarded those who wanted to be with the Canucks long-term, and left open space for younger players to push for spot on the main roster. While it won't become clear for another couple of months if these were the right moves, in the end, Vancouver made some smart bets and signed some contracts that have the potential to be steals over the next few years.
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