“High level of concern” for Pettersson and Hughes in Vancouver

As you know, forward Elias Pettersson and defenseman Quinn Hughes have yet to sign extensions with the Vancouver Canucks. Both restricted free agents are coming off their entry-level contracts and all eyes are now on them as they have yet to re-sign with their team. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild finally agreed with their RFA Kirill Kaprizov to a five-year, $45 million contract extension. 

 If you’re a Canucks fan, you HAVE to be feeling nervous about the Canucks heading into the season.

To date there have been reports that both sides are grinding away at long-term extensions for both players, but in the past week there’s been some uncertainty that a deal will get done in time for training camp. On Tuesday, there were reports that Pettersson has left Vancouver entirely and has flown to Michigan to train with Hughes in his hometown.

This prompted TSN’s Darren Dreger to comment this on the current situation in Vancouver: 

 “There is a high level of concern, appreciably, to whether or not this pair is going to be signed and ready to go for the opener of the season.”

We already get the feeling that Pettersson and Hughes will communicate everything that comes into play for their respective extension as they are close friends, now training together. They are also both represented by Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry of Creative Artists Agency. 

Pettersson has shown nothing but love for Vancouver since he first arrived in the city back in 2018, even spending his offseasons there to acclimate to the city and its culture. After all he’s still a young man, originally from a small-ish sized city back in Sweden. He has embraced Vancouver and Canadian culture fully, so the fact that he’s decided to up and leave the city with the opening of training camp just days away will likely sound alarm bells for the majority of Canucks fans. 

As for Hughes, most fans see him as the future of the franchise on the blue line, and the Canucks need to make sure they can have both players on board ASAP.

The Canucks have made the playoffs just once in the last six seasons. They need both Pettersson and Hughes on board to become contenders. No doubt. Good news later came from GM Jim Benning himself later on Wednesday, as he stated: 

“I’m going to talk with them again this afternoon, and hopefully we can get something done quick."