Will the next few days really mark the end of Brock Boeser’s time with the Vancouver Canucks?
Earlier this week, the sharp-shooting winger who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 updated Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre on the low odds that he’ll re-up with the team that drafted him in 2015.
“Honestly, it's unlikely at this point,” Boeser said. “It sucks, it's unfortunate.”
The 28-year-old also admitted that he’s currently not in contact with his agent, Ben Hankinson, because he’s trying to concentrate on his game and avoid distractions.
So he may not be aware of the nugget that Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman dropped during his Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, saying that the sticking point between the Canucks and Boeser’s camp was term. That may or may not mean that it’s still possible to find common ground, but it does sound like negotiations are ongoing.
At this stage of Boeser’s career, it’s understandable that he’s looking for security. All three of his previous contracts have been three-year durations, and he settled for a relatively small raise on July 1, 2022, when he went from $5.875 million to $6.65 million at a time where he could have elected to file for arbitration and potentially reach UFA status one year sooner than he is.
Just a few months into that deal, both sides were thinking about cutting ties. But a trade never materialized and Boeser went on to have the best year of his career in 2023-24 — hitting 40 goals in the regular season and lighting up the playoffs with a point per game before a blood clot sidelined him for the critical Game 7 of Vancouver’s second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers.
This season, along with nearly everyone on his team, Boeser has dealt with still more adversity. His came in the form of a concussion that sidelined him for seven games and the trade of his long-time center, J.T. Miller.
“Millsy’s such a good playmaker,” Boeser said last fall. “I just go to the net and try to get open.”
Boeser put up 16 goals and 33 points in the 43 games he played with Miller this season. During the eight games that Miller missed due to his personal leave of absence in November, he was also solid, with seven points in eight games. But since Miller’s late-January trade, Boeser has dipped to nine goals and 16 points in 30 games.
Against the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Arena on Saturday, he was quiet. He logged more than 20 minutes but finished with just three shot attempts, which were all blocked.
The Canucks are now dealing with so many injuries that they’re making call-ups to replace the call-ups. Down the middle, the original Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil have both been shut down for the year. AHL replacements Nils Aman and Max Sasson were both unavailable for Saturday’s game. So with Pius Suter, Aatu Raty and Teddy Blueger handling duties down the middle, an emergency call had to be placed to Abbotsford on Saturday to summon 22-year-old Ty Mueller, a first-year pro who was drafted in the fourth round in 2023.
For his NHL debut, Mueller slotted straight into the top six, centering Boeser and Jake DeBrusk in what became a 3-2 comeback win in overtime for the Wild.
“We didn’t really help him too much as a line, me and Brock,” DeBrusk candidly admitted after the game. “I wish I could have done more for him, in terms of generating chances.”
Famously, Boeser’s first-ever NHL game also came against the Minnesota Wild, his hometown team. On March 25, 2017, Boeser joined Daniel and Henrik Sedin as part of the starting lineup at Xcel Energy Center. Then, in the second period, he scored his first NHL goal on a tap-in after a rush by Sven Baertschi and Bo Horvat.
This day in #Canucks history, March 25, 2017:
— Vancouver Canucks History (@canuckshistoryx) March 25, 2025
Making his NHL debut at home in Minnesota, Brock Boeser scores his first career goal.
🎥: First NHL Goals / YouTube pic.twitter.com/O4JlxrFko6
This season, Boeser hit multiple milestones: 500 games as a Canuck, 400 points and 200 goals. He sits eighth in goals in franchise history, sandwiched between Henrik Sedin and Horvat, and is also eighth in goals among the highly regarded 2015 draft class — impressive for a player who was selected 23rd overall.
Because Boeser has had one foot out the door so often before, it’s still possible to imagine him finding common ground with the Canucks again. Right now, though, this feels different.
His status is just one big question that the Canucks will need to work to resolve soon after the curtain drops on this season on Wednesday.
Rick Tocchet’s future is also up in the air — but Friedman also reported on Saturday that both sides are looking to come to a resolution quickly after the season’s end. And after Quinn Hughes spoke passionately about the positive influence that Tocchet and Adam Foote have had on his game earlier this week, perhaps that bodes well for long-term stability going forward.
That would be a welcome outcome after such a tumultuous year.
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