“Big part of this franchise” – Brock Boeser signs three-year, $19.95 million contract with Vancouver Canucks

“Big part of this franchise” – Brock Boeser signs three-year, $19.95 million contract with Vancouver Canucks

Brock Boeser

American ice hockey winger Brock Boeser signed a three-year, $19.95 million contract (average annual value of $6.65 million) with the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. The 25-year-old is coming back after dealing with the unfortunate death of his father, Duke Boeser, who had Parkinson’s disease. 

The Minnesota native Boeser, who could have become a restricted free agent on July 13, had 46 points (23 goals, 23 assists) in 71 games for the Canucks this season. Notably, he required a qualifying offer of $7.5 million to avoid unrestricted free agency.

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“We wanted to keep Brock,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said, as quoted by NHL.com. “Brock is a big part of this franchise moving forward. Obviously went through a really tough time last year and we believe that he is capable of being a better player moving forward here. So it was a commitment from both sides to get this deal done.”

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“Want our players to push themselves and raise the standard”

Vancouver Canucks players
Vancouver Canucks players

Vancouver switched coaches during this National Hockey League (NHL) season, with Bruce Boudreau taking over after Travis Green was fired on December 5. The Canucks went 32-15-10 under Boudreau but finished five points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

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“I do believe that there is more here, you know, obviously [with Brock] going through a tough time off the ice last year,” Allvin said. “[It’s] never easy with changes on the coaches and management, and I think the team was struggling last year.

“I’m hopeful here that we can create an environment where our players will push themselves and raise the standard and we can see growth in every single one. They’re capable of it. They just need to be pushed. And they need to have the right mindset of, you know, we’re more of a winning mindset.”

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