It’s Christmas in October for Vancouver Canucks fans as Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes each signed their second deal on October 1. Here’s how they’ll work for the players and the team.

Effects of the Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes contracts

Agents and Agency

It was always going to be a balancing act between the team, the players and the players’ agent. The fact that they share an agent now has advantages for both the players and the club. The players can reinforce each other and the team can say, “This is the money we have. How do you want it to be divided? “

It should be noted that the agency – CAA Sports LLC – negotiated both the Tyler Myers and Loui Eriksson agreements. Not a great comfort to Canucks fans. But the deals for Hughes and Pettersson are actually quite good – certainly better than the aforementioned duo in every way. Let’s take a closer look.

Hearts and Commitments

Vancouver was never going to get the two long-term stars signed for the amount they had, so a bridge is no surprise. Yes, a deal may were achieved, which meant moving other players, but it’s clear the team wasn’t interested in doing so. So Pettersson and Hughes come to town with some brilliant new offers to meet. Can they get such grades?

The Pettersson Agreement

As Pettersson said himself, he wants to be part of a winning team. Moving pieces around is not a good sign that you are doing this. Here’s what the Canucks frontline center got in his deal (hats off to CapFriendly for the numbers):

Total salary of $ 4 million in 2021-2022 (base $ 3 million + signing bonus of $ 1 million)
$ 7.8 million in 2022-2023 (all salaries, no bonus)
$ 10.25 million in 2023-24 (all salaries, no bonus)

As you can see, this is quite the accelerated pay raise. The main reason for this is that the NHL takes a significant chunk of salaries from players in receivership as teams recover from their COVID losses. This engagement will decrease as fans return to buildings and teams earn more money. It is set between 14-18% in 2021-22, 10% next season and only 6% from 2022-23 to 2025-26. A lower paycheck now means less money on deposit. It’s also not taken from the bonus money, so Pettersson gets that $ 1 million in cash in the first year.

Just to clarify, the next qualifying offer is NOT dependent on its $ 10.25 million year. Instead, as with any deal signed after July 10, 2020, it’s based on the average contract value. That means it’s a much friendlier team pay of $ 7.35 million. The qualifying bid is 120% of the $ 8.82 million bid.

Good or bad deal?

This contract is good. Great, even. This agreement is one that Pettersson is virtually guaranteed to surpass. And as a bonus, if it lives up to its potential, it will be worth a much bigger deal down the road. If it’s been eight years, that means he’ll only be 32 when he expires. Little risk of age-related regression on this contract! If he had a six year contract he would be –

Tell you what, let’s go.

The Hughes Agreement

A good argument could be made that the more important player of the two is Hughes. A number one defender has huge responsibilities, plays more than forwards and that’s something every team is looking for. They are only available in extremely rare trades and they are expensive. So here Hughes has a higher total cost but potentially more valuable than Pettersson.

Total salary of $ 4 million in 2021-2022
$ 6.5 million in 2022-2023
$ 8.6 million in 2023-24
$ 9.5 million in 2024-25
$ 10.25 million in 2025-2026
$ 8.25 million in 2026-2027

The same kind of evasion in the Pettersson Agreement is visible here and for the same reason. But the fun part is in the last year. The Canucks buy a year of free agency, which is the first form of trade protection that could apply. But none are listed. Add to that the drop in costs, Hughes is getting slightly easier to negotiate last year, should the Canucks feel the need to.

Hughes will be 22 two days after the start of the 2021-22 season. In the final year of this agreement, he will be 27 years old. The player and the team will then have a lot to say. If the Canucks haven’t seen consistent success, he may well get treated. With a chord shaped this way, that’s an option. And who knows what a top defender will be worth by then?

Good or bad deal?

Like the Pettersson agreement, this one is very good. There have been a few grunts * about not having both players in the long run, but it’s been a strange year. If a deal was signed at the end of the seasons, the team may well have locked the two players up for a relatively low rate. The mostly flat salary cap combined with the financial blow taken by team owners gave the impression that salaries would stagnate a bit. That didn’t happen, with massive, record-breaking offers being given to multiple players. And Creative Artists Agency (CAA) are not amateurs. They waited until comparable agreements were signed elsewhere before concluding their respective contracts with Vancouver.

Even so, Quinn’s six-year average value of $ 7.85 million looks like a low-risk deal for the team.

About the team

As we mentioned before, this is not the 1970s. Neither player is in bad shape, even if they are not quite up to it yet. With two preseason games remaining, they have several new teammates to meet and – hopefully – to work with. Pettersson comes up to a top line that may or may not have JT Miller on it. At least at the start of the season there might not be Brock Boeser either. And, sadly, it looks like Brandon Sutter is still trying to shake off the effects of last season’s COVID-19 attack and a shoulder injury. With him and Tyler Motte gone, Miller could be assigned to anchor the third row. That would open up a place for Conor Garland at the Pettersson wing.

Hughes may or may not have last season’s defensive partner this year, with Travis Hamonic undecided on his return. Hamonic hasn’t chosen to retire this season, but what happens next is still in the air. The team have several options, but whether those options are better than having Hamonic is moot at best. They range from pairing him up with Luke Schenn – whom Hughes played briefly in his 9-game call in 2019 – to moving Brad Hunt to his side, in skating with Tyler Myers. A Myers-Hughes pair have experience together but were only deployed when the team lost a late goal. It seems unlikely that coach Travis Green is ready for this as a regular unit.

All in all, Pettersson and Hughes have some catching up to do. And now they have less than two weeks to do so.

* Among Canucks fans? Say it’s not!

Main photo: Embed from Getty Images