The Vancouver Canucks may have their next contract comparison sitting right in front of them.
After Liam Öhgren emerged as the obvious name to watch in Vancouver’s pipeline of upcoming deals, Fraser Minten’s new extension with the Bruins gives the market a fresh marker. On Tuesday, Minten landed a seven-year contract worth $7.2 million per season, a significant number for a player who was drafted 19 spots after Öhgren and was headed toward restricted free agency in the spring of 2027.
That matters because Öhgren is in the same general stage of his career, even if the two players don’t line up perfectly. Minten is a centre by trade, while Öhgren plays left wing. Still, both are young, both were drafted in 2022, and both were viewed as promising pieces worth locking up before their next round of negotiations.
For the Canucks, the timing around Öhgren is starting to matter. He’s a year away from RFA status, and there hasn’t been any real movement yet on a long-term agreement.
Chek’s Rick Dhaliwal reported that things are quiet between the two sides, and unless something changes in a meaningful way, a deal before the season starts looks unlikely. Öhgren also didn’t sound as though he was counting on getting an eight-year contract done before the NHL’s new CBA rules take effect on September 15 when he spoke with The Hockey News’ Adam Kierszenblat.
Öhgren’s first half-season in Vancouver gave the Canucks enough to think about. He arrived as part of last year’s Quinn Hughes trade and was once viewed as the throw-in, but he made a solid early impression. Now the question is how much the organization wants to commit before seeing another season of evidence.
Minten’s extension helps frame that decision. The Bruins clearly decided they had enough of a sample size to bet big on the player they acquired in the Brandon Carlo trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Minten put up 35 points last season in Boston and is currently third on the Bruins’ centre depth chart behind Pavel Zacha and former Canuck Elias Lindholm.
There are also some useful statistical touchpoints between the two. Minten’s two-way game stood out last season, while Öhgren played on a Canucks team that bled scoring chances.
Natural Stat Trick had Minten at 51.07% in Scoring Chance percentage, compared with Öhgren’s 38.14%. Öhgren’s calling card, though, is his shot.
NHL Edge lists his average shot speed at 59.45 MPH, which is 10 MPH harder than Minten’s 49 MPH. The payoff hasn’t matched Minten’s 17 goals yet, but that’s the part Vancouver is still waiting to see.
That’s really the heart of the comparison. Minten is a clearer bet for Boston right now, while Öhgren’s ceiling remains more of a question for Vancouver than Zeev Buium’s does for the Canucks.
Buium already looks like a long-term defensive pillar in the team’s eyes. Öhgren, by contrast, is less essential to the club’s present-day plans, even if he remains a priority for new GM Ryan Johnson.
That gives the Canucks some leverage, and some patience. They have cap space to work with and no obvious rush to spend it, which means they can wait and see whether Öhgren’s next season changes the conversation. Minten’s number also offers a ceiling of sorts: with his added versatility between centre and left wing, it seems unlikely Öhgren gets to $7 million a year without a major offensive leap.
If that leap comes, Vancouver would likely be happy to pay for it on a long-term deal, especially with the salary cap climbing. If Öhgren simply repeats last season’s production, the next contract probably lands closer to the $4 million to $5 million range.
Either way, 2026-27 will decide where Öhgren’s number ultimately lands.
In Other News...
Former Canuck Exit Says Plenty About Vancouvers Roster Churn
Pierre-Olivier Joseph is on the move again, and the latest stop speaks to how quickly NHL depth can turn over. The Carolina Hurricanes signed the defenseman to a one-year, $850,000 contract, adding a player who spent part of the 2025-26 season with the Canucks before continuing a career that has already taken him through Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
For Vancouver, it is another reminder of how many pieces can cycle through the back end in a hurry, especially when a club is trying to settle on the right mix. Joseph now heads to a defending Stanley Cup champion with a chance to compete for a roster spot, while the Canucks keep sorting through their own defensive picture and the familiar churn that comes with it. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Just Added Three Blue Liners Fans Will Want To Watch
The Canucks are giving their blue line a little more summer intrigue, bringing in three new defensemen for the 2026 Prospects Showcase in Abbotsford. Arseni Anisimov, Carson Cameron and Alonso Gosselin will join the roster for the two-day event at Rogers Forum on Sept. 12 and 13, where Vancouver will line up against the Seattle Kraken in a setting that gives young players a real chance to stand out.
For a team always looking to keep the pipeline moving, the showcase is one of those dates that matters more than it might first appear. The announcement included background on each defender along with recent performance numbers, which should give fans a better sense of what each player brings before the group hits the ice and the spotlight turns to who can make the strongest early impression. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Finally Face The Roster Decisions They Kept Avoiding
After coming so close to the Western Conference Final in 2024, the Canucks spent the season that followed confronting a hard slide and a wave of organizational change. Former president Jim Rutherford said the team understood Quinn Hughes could eventually leave, even as it kept making roster moves with the hope of persuading its captain to stay. Those decisions shaped the clubs direction for a while, but they also left Vancouver with a clearer view of where the old approach had run out of road.
Now the Canucks are shifting into a different phase, one built less around convincing Hughes to remain and more around planning for life without him. That means the roster questions they kept postponing are finally coming due, and the answers could force the organization into a harder, more honest rebuilding path. It is the kind of reset that can change not just the depth chart, but the philosophy behind how Vancouver wants to build from here. [Read more 🡒]