The Vancouver Canucks have re-signed defenseman Derrick Pouliot to a one-year contract extension worth $1.1 million. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the deal.
Pouliot could have become an unrestricted free agent after not being tendered a qualifying offer by the Canucks on Monday. Instead, he re-signed with the team before hitting the open market. Pouliot was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins at the beginning of the season as Pittsburgh felt like he needed a fresh start.
Welcome back @LordRicky51! #Canucks have re-signed defenceman Derrick Pouliot to a one-year, one-way contract worth $1.1M. https://t.co/QN8iZkRffx
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) June 26, 2018
Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Defenceman Derrick Pouliot
Pouliot ended up playing 71 games with the Canucks after he was acquired from Pittsburgh. The former eighth overall pick had three goals and 22 points, both career highs for him. His previous career high for points was seven and that came back in 2015-16 and 2014-15. He was used both on the second pairing and the bottom pairing during the season. Towards the end of the season, he was playing on the second pairing with Michael Del Zotto. He also was on the second power-play unit at times as the first unit was reserved for Alexander Edler.
Possession wise, Pouliot was at 50.7 percent Corsi-for and +3.7 Corsi relative, solid numbers for the defenceman. He definitely needed a fresh start as his career was starting to go nowhere for him in Pittsburgh. Despite Vancouver being a bad team, he was able to play a lot of their games and get better.
Going into next season, it’ll be interesting to see if Pouliot can earn even more playing time. Vancouver could put him on the second pairing for the entire season and run him on the second power play the whole season as well. He’s never going to be a top pairing defenseman but he should give Vancouver quality minutes when he’s not up there. Pouliot is still only 24 years old as well and each season he plays in the league will give him more experience and potentially make him a better player.
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