Vancouver Canucks News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Vancouver Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk, forward Brock Boeser, defenseman Quinn Hughes and forward Aatu Raty celebrate a goal (Bob Frid-Imagn Images)

Canucks’ 3 Best Contracts for 2025-26

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Matthew Zator | Last updated Jul 11, 2025 11:15 AM ET

As we continue to march through the dog days of the offseason, the only news that has come from the Vancouver Canucks has been in the form of entry-level contracts (ELCs) to their first two picks of the 2025 NHL Draft – Braeden Cootes (15th overall) and Alexei Medvedev (47th overall). They could enter the conversation of the Canucks’ best contracts in the future, but until then, let’s take a look at the top three entering the 2025-26 season.

3. Brock Boeser – $7.25 Million AAV

Considering Brock Boeser could have gotten upwards of $9 million average annual value (AAV) on the free agent market, the Canucks got a steal of a contract when they re-signed him for $7.25 million AAV on a seven-year deal. He was earning $6.65 million AAV on his last contract that expired at the end of last season, and surprisingly, only got a $600,000 raise to stay with the only NHL team he’s ever known. Teams would have probably overpaid to snag the former 40-goal scorer, but he decided to forgo the huge payday and follow his heart back to Vancouver.

“I really mentally tried to throw scenarios in my head on different teams I could possibly see myself being on and tried to envision it, but that can only get you so far,” Boeser said. “Just thinking about it, I felt like in my stomach I still had a weird feeling about everything and when they called back, I kind of lit up. Even after everything that’s happened, I still kind of had that feeling in my stomach and I listened to it, and it felt right when they started talking and trying to figure out a deal. I started getting excited and I just knew it was meant to be.”

With that new long-term deal, the Canucks have one of the more budget-friendly contracts in the NHL on their books for the next seven seasons. If Boeser continues to score 20-plus goals consistently, which he has done six times in his career already, this will only look better and better as the salary cap rises to its expected $113.5 million in 2027-28.

2. Kiefer Sherwood – $1.5 Million AAV

On July 1, 2024, the Canucks signed rugged bottom-six forward Kiefer Sherwood to a two-year contract worth $1.5 million AAV. At the time, they thought they were getting a pest that would get under the skin of opponents and score the occasional goal. After all, his career-high was only 10 goals set in the 2023-24 season and 24 in his career overall. His signing went a little under the radar, with Jake DeBrusk grabbing the headlines with his seven-year pact at $5.5 million AAV.

Fast-forward a year, and Sherwood has not only lived up to those expectations but rocketed miles past them, becoming one of the top free-agent signings in franchise history. He was a menace all season in the hit parade with an NHL record 462 hits, and added a surprising amount of offence as well, with a career-high 19 goals and 40 points – all for a bargain-basement $1.5 million. He has become a fan favourite in Vancouver and will be in for a big raise on his next contract if he replicates what he did last season. The Canucks are hoping he will, because they will need all the offence they can get in what is expected to be a competitive Pacific Division.

1. Quinn Hughes – $7.85 Million AAV

The Canucks better enjoy Quinn Hughes at $7.85 million AAV while they can, because his next contract will be upwards of $12 million AAV. Fans are hoping that contract is in Vancouver and not New Jersey with his brothers Jack and Luke, but that’s a discussion for another day. The 2024 Norris Trophy winner is vastly underpaid for the next two seasons, seasons that he will likely put up another 90-100 points and establish a franchise scoring record that won’t soon be broken. It might take 30-plus years for someone to do so – if they do at all – similar to how long it took Alex Ovechkin to track down Wayne Gretzky. His next point will pass Alex Edler atop the Canucks points leaderboard among defencemen, remarkably in 491 fewer games.

Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks (Photo by Derek Cain/Getty Images)

Hughes will probably record his 410th career point in the first game of the season in early October. Their opponent has yet to be announced for that game, but it will be a milestone moment that is sure to be remembered. How many more points he records in a Canucks jersey remains to be seen, but fans will savour every minute they have him in the blue and green with the “C” stitched to his chest. Regardless, his contract is the best on the Canucks – maybe even in the league – and he deserves every penny he gets on his next one. Here’s to hoping that when we are talking about him in this article next year, he has inked a seven-year extension to remain a Canuck until he’s in his mid-30s.

Final Word

The Canucks will need Boeser, Sherwood and Hughes to continue to outplay the value of their contracts if they hope to make it back to the playoffs this season. Boeser and Hughes are almost sure to do so, while Sherwood could regress to what he was when they signed him last July. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing (he will still provide physicality and his trademark intensity regardless of goals and points), it would help the Canucks cause if he could be the same offensive threat as he was last season – ala Alex Burrows in 2010 and 2011 – while also being a pest.