The Vancouver Canucks announced Sunday they had agreed to terms with winger Nils Höglander on a three-year, $9 million contract extension, which will begin in the 2025-26 season.
General Manager Patrik Allvin announces that the #Canucks have agreed to terms with forward Nils Höglander on a three-year contract extension with a $3 million AAV.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 6, 2024
Höglander, 23, had a career high 24 goals and 36 points in 80 games for Vancouver last season. He was the Canucks’ second-round pick in 2019 and has played 221 NHL games for the club.
What it means for Höglander’s future
The Canucks’ decision to prioritize extending Höglander a full season before his contract expires as an RFA is a huge vote of confidence.
Last year, the scrappy winger broke out with 24 goals and made significant progress cleaning up his two-way mistakes, but his ice time was still limited and he struggled in the playoffs. If the Canucks didn’t truly believe in Höglander as a core piece, the idea of selling high on him in a package to acquire a bigger name could have been appealing. Instead, this extension proves that the Canucks unequivocally view him as a key top-nine contributor moving forward.
Höglander scored on 20 percent of his shots last season, so there’s probably not a ton of untapped upside from a goal scoring perspective, but he’s still only scratching the surface of his potential as an even-strength play driver. His speed, ferocious forechecking and his skill below the hashmarks and around the net all profile as perfect ingredients for the fast, direct, heavy style that head coach Rick Tocchet wants the Canucks to play.
The $3 million AAV attached to the new deal is nearly triple Höglander’s current $1.1 million cap hit, but it’s still a figure that he should comfortably live up to. Höglander simply needs to perform like a third-line caliber winger to match the value of his contract and the club will enjoy surplus value if he becomes closer to a top-six talent.
Getting ahead of this contract gives the Canucks extra cap certainty beyond this season. That will be huge ahead of a summer where Vancouver doesn’t have a lot of cap space and will need to juggle Brock Boeser’s expiring contract as well. Having a clearer cap picture will surely help at the trade deadline too if the Canucks end up being interested in adding non-rental players.
Höglander was arbitration-eligible at the end of this season — he would have had major leverage in the event of a 2024-25 breakout season, a possibility that the Canucks are now protected from.
Required reading
• Canucks trade Tucker Poolman, draft pick to Avalanche: Why it’s a key cap move
• Canucks 2024-25 breakout tiers: Which players are most likely to take a step?
(Photo: Bob Frid / USA Today)
