Canucks not planning to let Boeser walk as UFA this summer
The Vancouver Canucks aren't planning to let forward Brock Boeser walk away as an unrestricted free agent this summer, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford told Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre.
Boeser is a pending restricted free agent. The Canucks must tender a one-year, $7.5-million qualifying offer to retain his rights, per CapFriendly. The 25-year-old will become an unrestricted free agent on July 13 if Vancouver doesn't extend a qualifying offer to him, something Rutherford said won't happen.
"No, we're not going to let him walk," Rutherford said. "We recognize he's a good player. We can figure out a way to fit him in next season with him taking his qualifying offer. Everything gets tricky and difficult, but we can figure it out."
The executive added that the team would prefer to sit with Boeser and his agent to work out a longer-term deal.
If Boeser rejects the qualifying offer, he'll remain a restricted free agent, and the Canucks will retain his negotiating rights.
Boeser put up 23 goals and 23 assists in 71 games in 2021-22 while seeing a slight dip in ice time. However, he saw an uptick in production after Bruce Boudreau replaced Travis Green behind the bench on Dec. 5.
| Tenure | GP | G | P | P/GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeser under Green | 22 | 4 | 10 | 0.45 |
| Boeser under Boudreau | 49 | 19 | 36 | 0.73 |
Rutherford said the two sides hadn't discussed a new contract recently as Boeser's father died late last month after a long battle with Parkinson's disease and cancer.
Boeser just wrapped up the final season of a three-year deal with an average annual value of $5.875 million.
The deadline for qualifying offers is July 11. The offers aren't open for acceptance prior to July 13.