The Vancouver Canucks announced today that forward Max Sasson has signed a two-year, $1MM AAV contract extension with the club.
Canucks GM Patrik Allvin commented on the signing in the Canucks’ official announcement, saying:
Max has made the most of the opportunity presented to him this season and has provided us with some solid play. Since signing with the organization out of college, he has shown significant improvement, using his speed and skill to build a strong foundation for his future. Max was a key contributor to our championship run last year in Abbotsford, and we’re excited to watch him continue to grow as a player.
Sasson, 25, signed an entry-level deal with the Canucks as an NCAA free agent in March of 2023. He earned that NHL deal off the back of a stellar two-season run playing college hockey at Western Michigan University. He scored 15 goals and 42 points in his second season in Kalamazoo. 
Sasson was an instant-impact signing for the Canucks, quickly becoming one of their more reliable centers at the AHL level. After a seven-game cameo in 2022-23, Sasson hit the ground running during his true rookie season of 2023-24, scoring 18 goals and 42 points in 56 AHL games.
He kept growing his game into the following year, earning his first NHL call-up in November 2024. He played in a total of 29 games at the NHL level last season, scoring seven points. He spent the Spring of 2025 back in the AHL, helping the Abbotsford Canucks with the Calder Cup, scoring 14 points in 24 AHL playoff games.
Sasson began 2025-26 in the AHL but quickly rose to the NHL, earning a recall in early October after playing just two AHL games. (He scored a goal in each of those games) Sasson has begun to establish himself this season as a legitimate NHL-caliber fourth-line center, scoring six goals and eight points through 29 games this season. Head coach Adam Foote hasn’t shown a willigness to deploy Sasson much on special teams yet, but he is playing 11:01 time on ice per game mostly at even strength.
Seeing as Sasson is earning a $1MM AAV on his next deal with a relatively thin NHL résumé, it’s likely the Canucks are betting that Sasson’s upward trajectory will continue. He does still have some work to do, such as earning the trust of Foote to the point where he can be reliably used on the penalty kill, as that is usually an expectation of bottom-six centers at some point in their career. Sasson also has to improve at the faceoff dot, as he’s winning just 40% of his draws this season.
But as Allvin said, Sasson has already improved significantly since joining the Canucks, and he’s given every reason to believe he’ll be able to make those adjustments and grow into a more well-rounded NHL player. While this AAV might feel a bit high to some given that Sasson has just 58 career NHL games to his name, it’s important to take into account where the Canucks are as a franchise.
As they pivot into more of a rebuild-like direction, it’s understandable that the Canucks would want to devote some of its cap space to rewarding hard-working players who have proven to be developmental success stories for the organization. Sasson has been exactly that, and this solid contract extension is his reward for his steady growth over the last few years.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images