The Vancouver Canucks haven't necessarily had the 2024-25 campaign that they were hoping for at this point, as they are battling for a wild card spot in the Western Conference a year after they were the No. 2 in the playoff bracket. They swung a couple of trades before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, with one deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins that landed them Drew O'Connor.
Despite going undrafted, O'Connor managed to latch on with the Penguins, where he eventually turned himself into a bottom-six forward for the club. He got moved to the Canucks at the end of January, and shortly after the move, his new team rewarded him with a two-year, $5 million contract extension on Tuesday.
“General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the Canucks have agreed to terms with forward Drew O’Connor on a two-year contract extension worth $2.5M AAV,” the Canucks announced in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Canucks shore up forward depth with Drew O'Connor extension
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O'Connor really established himself last season with Pittsburgh, as he racked up 16 goals and 17 assists in 79 games. So far this season, he's got eight goals and 10 assists through 57 games, but two of those goals have come in his first four games with Vancouver. Add in this new contract, and it looks like this change of scenery could be quite beneficial for both sides.
With this extension, the Canucks are showing that O'Connor is a part of their future, and they managed to lock him up at a fairly reasonable price considering he's a bottom-six forward. Vancouver is looking to add talent and then lock up for the foreseeable future, as they did the same thing with Marcus Petersson, who was picked up in the same deal as O'Connor. Once the team returns to action from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, they will be hoping to immediately reap the benefits of this deal with O'Connor.
