In truly shocking fashion, the Vancouver Canucks managed to retain their longest-tenured player, Brock Boeser.
The deal came in shortly after free agency kicked off, when Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy dropped this little nugget on his Twitter/X:
Followed by Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal chimed, confirming that the deal would get done between the Canucks and Boeser:
And then Murphy came back with the terms of the contract:
It was widely speculated that if Boeser got to market, he would command above $8 million per season. So, with the Canucks meeting Boeser’s request for term, Boeser budged on his ask and accepted a lower average annual value (AAV). AFP Analytics had Boeser projected for a six-year deal that carried an $8,459,390 AAV.
That’s over $1 million less than Boeser could have projectedly earned to stay in Vancouver. That’s a player who wants to be here and is proud to put on a Canucks uniform every night.
Unlike most deals signed on July 1, this deal doesn’t project to give the Canucks any buyers remorse in the coming years.
JFreshHockey on Twitter/X laid out the equivalent of Boeser’s contract over the seven years compared to today’s salary cap: (based on true cap hit for years 2026-2028 and estimated 4% increase from 2029-2032):
By 2028, when Boeser is 31, his contract will be equivalent to $5.6 million in today’s dollars. That’s just $200,000 more than Christian Dvorak signed for today.
Speaking of deals handed out today, there were some tough ones that already make the Boeser contract look like a steal.
Tanner Jeannot
5 x $3.4M (Boston Bruins)
The contract the Bruins gave Jeannot might be the worst one handed out today.
Boston gave a bottom-six winger who has struggled to find a home throughout his career that much term is a head-scratcher. Does he bring an added physical element that instills fear into the opposition? Absolutely. But that’s about it. Outside of a standout 2021-2022 season (24 goals and 41 points), Jeannot has failed to hit the 15-point mark in his other five seasons.
Now, it might be unfair to compare Boeser’s contract to Jeannot’s because they bring different things to their respective clubs.
However, consider a player like Dakota Joshua, who often brings a similar element to the likes of Jeannot. He was given a four-year extension worth a $3.25 million AAV, following an 18-goal, 32-point campaign. Even last season, with some injuries and recovering from successful testicular cancer removal surgery, Joshua had one more point in 10 fewer games than Jeannot.
It seems like a hefty price to pay; one that the Bruins will grow to regret in the coming seasons.
Cody Ceci | Brian Dumoulin
4 x $4.5M | 4 x $4M (Los Angeles Kings)
New general manager Ken Holland got to work in his first free agency with the Los Angeles Kings…and not in a good way.
With Vladislav Gavrikov on his way to the New York Rangers, Holland had some work to do to bolster the Kings’ blueline. While there were probably some more intriguing names on the open market (Dmitry Orlov and, to a lesser extent, Matt Grzelcyk and Nate Schmidt), Holland landed on a pair of defensive defencemen in Ceci and Dumoulin.
Which isn’t terrible if you’re looking to strengthen your defence, but giving them the term and this type of AAV seems like a pair of classic overpayments we often see on July 1. Not to mention, adding these two when the team already has a similar type of defenceman making too much money in Joel Edmundson already on their blueline.
Mikael Granlund
3 x $7M (Anaheim Ducks)
This isn’t the worst deal by any means. Grabbing a versatile forward who can play down the middle or on the wing, who’s coming off a 66-point campaign.
However, context is important.
Granlund is 33 years old now. Yes, they kept the term down and could afford to spend that much when they had $36 million in cap space to spend. However, most of Granlund’s production came from his time in San Jose, where he was playing in a top-line, top power play role, which likely inflated those numbers.
Is he going to be getting the same type of deployment on a crowded Ducks team? Maybe, but he certainly won’t be the main distributor on that team. Also, before Granlund’s contract is up, Anaheim will need to extend Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier up front, as well as their entire defence corps. All six of their defenceman under contract are due before Granlund’s contract expires.
This might not age well in a few years when the Ducks need to extend some of their young players.
What do you think, Canucks fans? How do you think Brock Boeser’s seven-year, $7.25 million AAV extension with the Canucks will age compare to some of the rest of the deals handed out on July 1?
