Last summer, Vancouver’s signing of winger Kiefer Sherwood drew little fanfare. After all, he was a fourth-line signing on the opening day of free agency where over 100 contracts were handed out, so, like many, he was a bit of an afterthought.
But that all changed fairly quickly as the 30-year-old wound up playing his way higher up the depth chart while having a career year. Entering the second and final season of the two-year, $3MM contract he signed last summer, Sherwood is now extension-eligible. In a recent appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link), GM Patrik Allvin indicated that he has had preliminary discussions about a contract extension with Sherwood’s camp.
Sherwood has only been an NHL regular for the last two seasons. In 2023-24, he secured a full-time spot on Nashville’s roster and put up 27 points while playing exclusively in their bottom six where he notched 234 hits. That helped secure him a seven-figure contract last summer for the first time.
Last season, Sherwood certainly improved on those numbers. In 78 games, he potted 19 goals and 21 assists while seeing his playing time jump up to nearly 15 minutes a night, all career highs. Meanwhile, on the physicality side, not only did he shatter his personal best in that regard but he also set a new NHL record in the category with 462. The previous record was set by Nashville’s Jeremy Lauzon in 2023-24 with 383; he was traded to Vegas late last month.
Given what is still a fairly limited track record, forecasting an extension becomes a little tricky. At first glance, the four-year, $12MM contract given to Dakota Joshua last summer seems like a reasonable approximation. While the salary cap is higher now, Joshua is a little younger and plays center, the more premium position which could arguably offset the cap increase to a degree. His camp could plausibly argue that the five-year, $17MM pact Boston gave to Tanner Jeannot would be fair. Meanwhile, AFP Analytics projects a three-year pact around $2.65M per season. Regardless, Sherwood is well-positioned for a raise and a longer-term agreement than he’s ever had.
The Canucks have been active on the extension front already this week. First, the team inked goaltender Thatcher Demko to a three-year, $25.MM deal before officially signing winger Conor Garland to a six-year, $36MM pact; both deals kick in for 2026-27. It appears that if Allvin has his way, Sherwood could be the third player of that group at some point this summer.
Oh yeah, give Sherwood an extension. Based off last year he certainly deserves one. And because everyone eligible for one has gotten one too. Flexibility & prudence are greatly over valued. As is the concept that regression often happens. And when a team vastly underwhelms, you should extend everyone because law of averages says that won’t happen again, right? Just keep handing out extensions, because you can always buy them out, or use those pesky draft picks to offload them when it doesn’t work out… This is the mundane of mediocrity -& no offence to Sherwood, who likely deserves an extension. With a hefty raise. And a NTC….
You said it perfectly.
I hear what you’re saying, but in this case, Quinn and others said what a pest Sherwood was in the playoffs a couple of years ago and said to go out and get him, and he improves on that,then you extend him. Guys hate playing against him, this is a no brainer.
I love Sherwood, I’m simply saying that Patrik Allvin is a clueless GM, And they are going in the wrong direction.
All for resigning Sherwood (extending him), but they’ve already overcommitted to other veterans. It’s like “personal accomplishments” are more valued than a team one, because they were not much of a team last year. Mgmt has trouble saying goodbye to players until they’ve become valueless. This team needs a shakeup, and it shouldn’t be Quinn Hughes running the show.
Dakota Joshua at age 29, Has only 241 NHL career games, How does that translate into 3 million annually, I can’t wait for all the NHL drive by economists to explain that contract.
The Canucks probably panicked when the Wings where rumored to be offering 3.5 or 4 or something during that no-tampering tampering period. More likely, it was Joshua’s agent leaking it to the media. The current iteration of Canucks front office seems competent around drafting and development, and they brought an AHL championship to their farm team, but they do not seem to be very good negotiators.
Run it back!