{"id":493479,"date":"2026-07-05T13:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=493479"},"modified":"2026-07-05T13:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:47:10","slug":"buium-extension-lesson-van","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/07\/05\/buium-extension-lesson-van\/","title":{"rendered":"Canucks Need to Learn An Important Lesson After the Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the historic offer sheet for Leo Carlsson<\/a> given by the Philadelphia Flyers that would give Carlsson the highest annual salary in the NHL, there are lessons to be taken away. The Vancouver Canucks<\/a> need to get ahead of things and sign their restricted free agents, especially a Zeev Buium<\/a> extension, as he could be an offer sheet target next offseason should he remain unsigned by then.<\/p>\n

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Credit Image: \u00a9 Steve Roberts\/Cal Sport Media\/Cal Sport Media<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning From the League and How RFA Signings Have Been Done<\/h2>\n

Offer sheets are becoming more prevalent again, ever since former St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong acquired Dylan Holloway<\/a> and Philip Broberg via offer sheets from the Edmonton Oilers in August of 2024. Now, with the salary cap going up, teams with cap space will not be afraid to execute an offer sheet for a highly coveted player. GM Pat Verbeek and the Anaheim Ducks learned that the hard way when their young first-line centre, Leo Carlsson<\/a>, got offer-sheeted to a five-year contract worth $18 million per season.<\/p>\n

Verbeek has been known to low-ball his restricted free agents and only sign a deal at the last minute, which has led to trades for players like Mason McTavish<\/a>, Trevor Zegras, and Jamie Drysdale. Now, that mindset has come to bite the team, as not only is the salary for Carlsson astronomically high, but the term also sends him to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of his contract. The Flyers have definitely put Verbeek in a tough position.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has been very proactive in his long-term signings for his restricted free agents. He has locked them up early, and at a very reasonable price. Hughes recently signed prospect Ivan Demidov to a long-term extension<\/a>, eight years at $9.125 million per season, which could be a steal down the line. None of the players on the Canadiens are signed with an AAV of more than $9.5 million, with most of them signed at least until the end of this decade.<\/p>\n

However, while we can praise Kent Hughes for his “wizardry,<\/em>” it is not as simple as simply tackling extensions early. The players have to believe in the direction of the team as well. Montreal has created that environment, so high-profile players are willing to take team-friendly discounts to remain with the team. The Canucks could have the makings of a much-improved environment under the new management, but that remains a work in progress.<\/p>\n

The Canucks Should Learn From This and Sign a Long-Term Zeev Buium Extension Quickly<\/h3>\n

Vancouver will have a number of restricted free agents next season, which include Zeev Buium, Elias Pettersson (the defenceman), Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Liam Ohgren, and Aatu Raty. The most important signing, by far, is Buium, as he was the centrepiece of the Quinn Hughes<\/a> trade and could be a top-pairing defenceman in the future. The Canucks have been decently proactive in the past with their restricted free agents, such as Quinn Hughes, when they signed him to a six-year extension before the regular season started, during the final year of his entry-level contract.<\/p>\n

They also signed Elias Pettersson<\/a> (the forward) in March 2024, which was still early enough to avoid any possible offer sheets, as he would have been a restricted free agent in the 2023-24 offseason. However, given how poorly that contract has panned out, that should tell them even more about getting signings done even further in advance, before players fully reach their potential. Former GM Jim Benning’s decision to sign Pettersson to a three-year bridge deal is something that cannot be replicated here with Buium. Had Benning signed Pettersson to an eight-year extension in 2021, his contract would likely be a bargain by now, or at least, fair market value.<\/p>\n

Signing eight-year extensions on players who still have lots to prove is the new environment for signings, and the Canucks should follow suit with signing Buium to an eight-year extension, betting on his bright future. That is how contenders are built, rather than being reactive and signing panic contracts, which is what the Canucks have done far too often during the previous management regime.<\/p>\n

Not only will signing Buium to a long-term extension remove the narrative from bleeding into next season, but it would also set in place the cornerstone of the Canucks rebuild and potentially the future face of the franchise. The Canucks need to commit to that, as signing their top prospect before training camp begins will be a massive win for the team and for the new management. There is no time to waste on contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the historic offer sheet for Leo Carlsson given by the Philadelphia Flyers that would give Carlsson the highest annual salary in the NHL, there are lessons to be taken away. The Vancouver Canucks need to get ahead of things and sign their restricted free agents, especially a Zeev Buium extension, as he could be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5733,"featured_media":493550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,4547,4548],"tags":[7589,7916],"class_list":["post-493479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canucks","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-leo-carlsson","tag-zeev-buium"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5733"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493479"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493552,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493479\/revisions\/493552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}