The Vancouver Canucks took care of an important piece of offseason business on Friday evening by re-signing restricted free agent forward Brock Boeser to a three-year, $19.95 million contract. That deal carries a salary cap hit of $6.65 million per season and runs through the end of the 2024-25 season.
Boeser will be eligible for unrestricted free agency at the conclusion of that deal.
“We’re very happy to have worked out a new deal for Brock” Canucks GM Patrik Allvin said in a team statement announcing the agreement. “He is a very talented player and has been an effective goal scorer throughout his entire career. We look forward to seeing his game progress in the years to come. Now that his contract is in place for three seasons, Brock can shift his entire focus to his on-ice performance.”
On the surface, this looks like a pretty solid deal for the Canucks.
Boeser’s assist numbers took a bit of a fall this past season, but he remains a good goal-scorer with strong possession-driving numbers. In a “down” year he still scored 23 goals in 71 games and has shown the ability to score at a 30-35 goal pace throughout his career. Entering the 2021-22 season he had scored at a 32-goal pace per 82 games over the first five years of his career. Injuries, as well as the shortened seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21 were the main factors in preventing him from actually reaching those marks.
In the end, Boeser is a very good (and productive) player and an important piece for the Canucks.
Getting him signed for less than $7 million per season is a nice win for a Canucks team that still has some salary cap headaches to deal with.
It also might kick up the trade speculation elsewhere on the roster.
Boeser’s name is one that had circulated in trade rumors this past season, and while this contract is certainly one that could easily be moved, it seems more likely that J.T. Miller could be the player on the move. Miller is coming off a career year that saw him record 99 points, and has been a point-per-game player with the Canucks, but he is also entering the final year of his contract and re-signing him is going to be a challenge given the Canucks’ salary cap outlook.
—
Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.