Canucks: Don't be surprised if Liam Ohgren doesn't sign an eight-year contract extension by deadline

The Swede, who came over in the Quinn Hughes trade, steadily improved last season and could help his contract stock with a big year this season

The deadline to sign an eight-year contract extension in the NHL is tonight at 9 p.m. and it would be surprising if Vancouver Canucks forward Liam Ohgren gets a deal done in that time.

Seven-year deals will be the maximum when the new collective bargaining agreement kicks in tomorrow.

Holding off on an extension makes sense in particular from the player’s side of the equation. Ohgren, 22, played 51 games with the Canucks last season after coming over from the Minnesota Wild in the Quinn Hughes trade and showed flashes, on his way to winding up with eight goals and 18 points. He played 14 minutes and 27 seconds a night in Vancouver, which amounts to third-line minutes.

There are top-six minutes up for grabs with Vancouver this coming season and, if Ohgren takes a step forward, he’ll be in a much better negotiating spot a year from now. If Ohgren plays his way into those top-six minutes and gets into that 20-goal range, his leverage on a contract ratchets way up. That would mean more than an extra year of term.

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He’s in a different spot than defenceman Zeev Buium, 20, who wound up averaging 20:21 of ice time, or first-pairing minutes, in his 45 games with the Canucks after being acquired in that Hughes trade.

Buium inked an eight-year, $75.04 million deal with the Canucks on Sept. 4. That’s a cap hit of $9.38 million.

Forwards Ryan Leonard, 21, of the Washington Capitals and Noah Ostlund, 22, of the Buffalo Sabres, signed eight-year extensions this week. Forward Drake Batherson, 28, did the same with the Ottawa Senators.

There’s been 12 players to date sign eight-year extensions this off-season.

Ohgren will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. He’s in the final year of a deal with a cap hit of $886,666.

The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Ohgren has played 97 games in the NHL and has 11 goals and 25 points. The Stockholm native was a first-round pick (No. 19 overall) by the Wild in 2022.

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