Canucks Sign Aleksei Medvedev To Entry-Level Contract
The Canucks have signed goaltender Aleksei Medvedev to an entry-level contract, according to a team press release. The three-year deal is slide-eligible for up to two seasons. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Medvedev, still 17 for another two months, foregoes NCAA eligibility and will presumably play out the remainder of his major junior eligibility as a result. The 6’3″, 181-lb netminder went to Vancouver in the middle of the second round (No. 47 overall) in last month’s draft.
The St. Petersburg, Russia native has been in North America since his early teenage years and jumped to premier junior play with the OHL’s London Knights in 2024-25. He did quite well in backup duties for the OHL and Memorial Cup champions, posting a 2.79 GAA, .912 SV%, three shutouts, and a 22-8-2 record in 34 appearances.
Medvedev did not see ice time in the OHL playoffs or the Memorial Cup tournament. However, he was still named to the OHL’s First All-Rookie Team and received the Dinty Moore Trophy for the best GAA from a rookie.
He will likely spend the next two seasons as London’s starter before making the jump to the pros in the Canucks organization in 2027-28, upon which his entry-level contract would go to effect (unless he plays 10 NHL games in 2025-26 or 2026-27, an unlikely outcome). The Canucks now have a league-high eight goalies under contract, although Medvedev won’t count against the 50-contract limit if he’s in the OHL this season.
Canucks Sign Braeden Cootes To Entry-Level Contract
The Vancouver Canucks have signed centerman Braeden Cootes to a three-year, $2.93MM entry-level contract. Cootes was recently selected 15th-overall in the 2025 NHL Draft. He will have the ability to earn $500K in bonuses in each year of the contract, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK News. In comparing to Vancouver’s last two first-round picks, Dhaliwal points out that Cootes’ bonus is above winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki ($475K) but lesser than Tom Willander ($800K) on a per-season basis.
Cootes becomes the fourth player from his draft class to sign, after standing tall at Vancouver’s development camp. He’s a true middle-lane center, who showed a strong ability to work with his linemates to push pucks down the ice and generate scoring chances. While serving as the team’s captain, Cootes led the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds in scoring with 63 points in 60 games. He was a great couple with top Thunderbirds defenseman – and Buffalo Sabres ninth-overall draft pick – Radim Mrtka, who scored 35 points in 43 games.
Cootes rounded out a strong draft year with a stellar performance at the World U18 Championship. He led Team Canada with 12 points, split evenly, in just seven games played – while also wearing the ‘C’ for his country. That scoring was more than fifth-overall pick Brady Martin, who finished second on the team with 11 points.
That precedent of strong scoring will now push Cootes onto his first pro contract. He will forgo NCAA eligibility with this deal, meaning the Vancouver roster or a return to the WHL will be his only options for next season. Given Cootes’ room to add more dynamic playmaking, and explosivity, into his game – a return to juniors seems more likely.
Canucks Re-Sign Jett Woo, Nikita Tolopilo
According to a team announcement, the Vancouver Canucks have re-signed defenseman Jett Woo to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2025-26 season. In a separate announcement, the team shared that they’ve also re-signed netminder Nikita Tolopilo to a two-year, two-way contract.
PuckPedia shared the contractual details for Woo and Tolopilo. The former will earn $775K in the NHL and $290K in the AHL, while the latter will earn $775K in the NHL each year, with an AHL salary of $230K in 2025-26 and $380K in 2026-27.
Woo has been a mainstay on the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks blue line for several years. Vancouver drafted Woo with the 37th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, although he was projected to be a first-round talent a few years before.
Despite having optimism that Woo’s offensive capabilities could grow into a serviceable top-four option in a few years, he hasn’t panned out as such. Still, he’s been relatively productive at the AHL level, scoring 21 goals and 83 points in 267 games with a +32 rating.
Meanwhile, unlike Woo, Tolopilo earned a few games of NHL action last season. It wasn’t the greatest first impression as far as save percentage goes (.885), but Tolopilo earned his spot in the organization through his AHL performance.
In his last two years with Abbotsford, Tolopilo has achieved a record of 40 wins, 27 losses, and 3 overtime losses in 71 games, with a .903 SV% and a 2.74 GAA, including four shutouts. Thanks to the outstanding play of Arturs Silovs, Tolopilo only featured in one game for the AHL Canucks on their run to a Calder Cup championship a few weeks ago.
Zac Dalpe Announces Retirement
Longtime minor-league forward Zac Dalpe, who appeared in parts of 12 NHL seasons with numerous clubs over the past two decades, has announced his retirement via an open letter published on the Charlotte Checkers’ website.
Dalpe, 35, scored 16 goals, 16 assists, and 32 points with a -37 rating in 168 career regular-season games with the Blue Jackets, Panthers, Wild, Canucks, Sabres, and Hurricanes, who drafted him No. 45 overall back in 2008. He made 16 playoff appearances, 13 of which came in Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023.
The versatile center/winger spent more time in the AHL with Charlotte than anywhere else, including as their captain for the last four seasons while under contract with the Panthers. They were also the Hurricanes’ minor-league affiliate when he was in Carolina’s system. He scored 131 goals and 238 points in 362 games there across seven campaigns, sitting third in franchise history in goals.
“Pulling that Checkers sweater over my head and walking through the redline club on the way out to the bright lights will always be stapled in my head,” Dalpe said in his letter, which is truly worth a full read. “It started here and now it shall end here. I’m proud of what I got to do, but more importantly, I’m so proud of who I got to do it with. I appreciate every single person that was along for the greatest ride of my life. A Canadian kid got to be a hockey player for 15 years.”
While Dalpe never won a Stanley or Calder Cup, he was a two-time AHL All-Star and was part of the league’s All-Rookie Team back in 2010-11. He finishes his career with 220 goals, 172 assists, and 392 points in 574 AHL games. Only seven players have spent more seasons in the league than Dalpe’s 16.
Before turning pro, Dalpe was a star at Ohio State, where he scored 70 points in 76 games in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. He was a CCHA First Team All-Star in his second and final collegiate season.
All of us at PHR wish Dalpe the best in the next phase of his life and career and congratulate him on such a lengthy run of high-end play in the pros.
Image courtesy of James Guillory-Imagn Images.
Canucks Made Multi-Year Pitch To Dvorak
- The Canucks showed strong interest in center Christian Dvorak earlier this week, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports (Twitter link). Dvorak ultimately signed a one-year, $5.4MM contract with Philadelphia while Vancouver is believed to have put a three-year pact on the table worth around $4MM per season. The 29-year-old had 33 points in 82 games with Montreal last season while winning nearly 56% of his faceoffs.
Canucks Have Started Extension Talks With Kiefer Sherwood
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.
Canucks Sign Defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph
The Vancouver Canucks have signed defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph to a one-year contract worth $775,000, per a team release.
The former first-round pick (23rd overall in the 2017 NHL Draft) joins Vancouver after skating in 194 career games over five NHL seasons. Joseph spent time with both the St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins last season, the latter reacquiring him midway through the year. In 47 games between the two teams, he recorded just three assists and finished with a minus-22 rating.
During the 2022–23 season with the Penguins—his first full NHL campaign—Joseph displayed the potential that made him a first-round pick, setting career highs in games played (75), goals (five), points (21), and plus/minus (plus-eight). However, he has been unable to replicate that level of success in the seasons since.
It’s worth noting that Jim Rutherford, now the Canucks’ president of hockey operations, was the Penguins’ GM when they brought in Joseph as part of the trade that sent Phil Kessel to the Coyotes. The deal also reunites Joseph, 26, with former teammate Marcus Pettersson. The Canucks appear set in their top four with Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Tyler Myers, and Pettersson, but Joseph could compete for a role on the third pairing or, at the very least, provide the organization with a reliable depth option on the blue line.
“Pierre-Olivier has good speed and mobility and will add to our depth on the back end. His addition gives us a player with some solid NHL and pro hockey experience, he is comfortable playing both sides, and he won a world championship with Tyler Myers in 2023. We look forward to getting him here to start working with our group,” said GM Patrik Allvin.
Two-Way Deals: 7/1/25
As major signings come in around the NHL today with the 2025-26 league year beginning, teams are shoring up their minor-league depth as well by signing players to two-way contracts. We’re keeping track of those signings today in this article, which will be continuously updated. Deals are one year unless otherwise noted.
Boston Bruins
F Riley Tufte ($775K NHL) – Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub
D Jonathan Aspirot ($775K NHL) – Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub
G Luke Cavallin ($775K NHL) – Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub
Buffalo Sabres
F Riley Fiddler-Schultz ($865K NHL/$90K SB/$35K PB/$85K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years, entry-level
F Carson Meyer ($775K NHL/$350K AHL Y1 – $375K AHL Y2) – PuckPedia // two years
D Mason Geertsen ($775K NHL/$425K AHL) – Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet // two years
D Zachary Jones ($900K NHL/$550K AHL) – PuckPedia
D Zach Metsa ($775K NHL/$250K AHL/$325K gt’d) – PuckPedia
Calgary Flames
D Nick Cicek ($775K NHL) – team release
Carolina Hurricanes
G Amir Miftakhov ($775K NHL/$100K AHL/$240K gt’d) – PuckPedia
Chicago Blackhawks
F Dominic Toninato ($850K NHL) – team release // two years
Colorado Avalanche
F T.J. Tynan (unknown) – team release
D Jack Ahcan (unknown) – team release
D Ronald Attard ($775K NHL/$450K AHL/$500K gt’d) – PuckPedia
Columbus Blue Jackets
F Owen Sillinger (unknown) – team release
D Christian Jaros (unknown) – team release
Dallas Stars
D Niilopekka Muhonen (unknown) – team release // three years, entry-level
Edmonton Oilers
D Riley Stillman ($775K NHL/$475K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years
G Matt Tomkins ($775K NHL/$400K AHL/$450 Y2 gt’d) – PuckPedia // two years
Florida Panthers
F Nolan Foote ($775K NHL/$150K AHL/$250K gt’d) – PuckPedia
F Jack Studnicka ($775K NHL/$450K AHL) – Chris Johnston of TSN/The Athletic
G Brandon Bussi ($775K NHL/$400K AHL) – PuckPedia
G Kirill Gerasimyuk (unknown) – team release // two years, entry-level
Los Angeles Kings
F Cole Guttman ($775K NHL/$450K Y1 – $475K Y2 AHL/$475K gt’d Y1 – $500K gt’d Y2) – PuckPedia // two years
Minnesota Wild
F Tyler Pitlick ($775K NHL/$300K Y1 – $350K Y2 AHL/$325K gt’d Y1 – $375K gt’d Y2) – PuckPedia // two years
D Ben Gleason ($800K NHL/$475K AHL) – PuckPedia
Montreal Canadiens
F Alex Belzile (unknown) – team release
D Nathan Clurman ($775K NHL/$125K AHL/$140K gt’d) – PuckPedia
New Jersey Devils
D Calen Addison ($775K NHL/$325K AHL/$400K gt’d) – PuckPedia
F Angus Crookshank ($775K NHL/$425K AHL/$475K gt’d) – PuckPedia // two years, one-way in 2026-27
New York Islanders
F Matthew Highmore (unknown) – team release
D Ethan Bear ($775K NHL/$325K AHL/$425K gt’d) – PuckPedia
D Cole McWard (unknown) – team release
New York Rangers
D Derrick Pouliot ($775K NHL/$400K AHL/$425K gt’d Y1 – $450K gt’d Y2) – PuckPedia // two years
Ottawa Senators
F Wyatt Bongiovanni ($775K NHL/$160K AHL) – PuckPedia
F Olle Lycksell ($775K NHL/$450K AHL/$500K gt’d) – Darren Dreger of TSN
Philadelphia Flyers
F Lane Pederson ($775K NHL/$525K AHL) – PuckPedia
San Jose Sharks
F Jimmy Huntington (unknown) – team release
F Samuel Laberge (unknown) – team release
F Colin White ($775K NHL/$425K AHL/$475K gt’d) – PuckPedia
D Cole Clayton (unknown) – team release
St. Louis Blues
F Matt Luff ($775K NHL/$400K AHL) – PuckPedia
Tampa Bay Lightning
F Nicholas Abruzzese (unknown) – team release
F Tristan Allard (unknown) – team release // two years, entry-level
F Boris Katchouk (unknown) – team release
D Simon Lundmark ($775K NHL/$250K AHL/$350K gt’d) – PuckPedia // two years
G Ryan Fanti ($775K NHL/$80K AHL) – PuckPedia
Utah Mammoth
F Kailer Yamamoto ($775K NHL/$500K AHL) – PuckPedia
D Scott Perunovich ($775K NHL/$400K AHL/$500K gt’d) – PuckPedia
Vancouver Canucks
F Joseph LaBate ($775K NHL/$350K AHL) – PuckPedia
F Mackenzie MacEachern ($775K NHL/$575K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years
D Jimmy Schuldt ($775K NHL/$500K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years
Winnipeg Jets
F Phillip Di Giuseppe ($775K NHL/$450K AHL) – PuckPedia
D Kale Clague (unknown) – Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet
Canucks Re-Sign Brock Boeser To Seven-Year Contract
In a surprising swing, scoring winger Brock Boeser is remaining with the only organization he’s ever known. According to Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy, the Canucks are signing Boeser to a seven-year, $50.75MM contract, with an AAV of $7.25MM. Shortly thereafter, the Canucks made the signing official.
After months of trade rumors and a speculated separation, Boeser will make the surprising decision to stick around in Vancouver. He was shopped around heavily at the 2025 Trade Deadline, with Vancouver asking for as much as a first-round pick in return. No deal came together, though multiple teams were reportedly interested in offers, including the Carolina Hurricanes. A looming trade was enough to kick contract negotiations between Boeser and Vancouver to the summer – but Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin emphasized that the team remained interested in re-signing the scoring winger. That emphasis came in the midst of many other teams expressing interest in signing Boeser – including the Anaheim Ducks, who viewed him as a potential backup to signing Mitch Marner.
Instead, Boeser will commit to staying a Canuck through the bulk of his career. He joined the club with the 23rd-overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, following a standout season with the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks. Boeser followed his draft with two seasons as the University of North Dakota, where he became renowned for his ability to score goals in the big moments. His freshman year was headlined by 27 goals and 60 points in 42 games, though unfortunate circumstances and battles with injury held him to just 34 points in 32 games as a sophomore. Boeser curbed that misfortune by signing his entry-level contract at the end of the 2016-17. He was granted the first nine games of his NHL career shortly after, and quickly broke out with the first four goals and five points of his career.
With that, Boeser stamped the presence he brings to the lineup. He flashed as a volume shooter capable of taking advantage of slight openings and momentum in the rush. Those are the exact traits that led him to an impressive 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games of his rookie season – good for second in goals, and fifth in total points, among a loaded rookie class that also featured Kyle Connor, Alex DeBrincat, Clayton Keller, and Mathew Barzal. But Boeser’s flashy 2017-18 rookie campaign didn’t come without misfortune. He sustained a foot injury in just the first few games of the season, then again partway through the year with what was ultimately diagnosed as a bone bruise — in addition to a hand injury in February.
Boeser pushed through the injury, but his rookie season was ultimately cut short just a couple of months later when he fractured his back on an attempted hit. It derailed what could have been a Calder Trophy-winning campaign, but Boeser made an impressive surge back to health in the following season. For the string of injuries that he faced, Boeser’s on-ice product remained surprisingly consistent. He scored 26 goals and 56 points in 69 games of his sophomore year in the NHL, then scored 45 points in 57 games – a 65-point pace across 82 games – in year three.
Continued injuries held Boeser below 75 games played through the 2022-23 season, even as his scoring remained consistent. Injuries appeared to be a perennial issue, until Boeser surged back to full health and appeared in all but one of Vancouver’s games in the 2023-24 season. Good health brought with it a breakout year – underlined by Boeser netting 40 goals and 73 points during the regular season, and 12 points in 12 postseason games. It was his first time breaking the 30-goal ceiling.
But Boeser recorded a lofty 19.6 shooting percentage in his career-year – a mark that seemed far from sustainable given his career-long 12.7 shooting percentage entering that season. As expected, Boeser’s shooting percentage and stat line fell accordingly this season — with him finishing the year on 50 points, split evenly, and a 17.2 shooting percentage in 75 games played. That’s a hardy decline, but it could be closely coupled to Vancouver’s sharp decline in total goals scored. The team ranked sixth in the league with 279 goals, but fell all the way to 23rd in the league with just 233 goals this year. Their season was marred by challenging questions surrounding Boeser, J.T. Miller, and Elias Pettersson. It’s hard to ensure that all of those questions have been ironed out, but a hardy extension for Boeser should give the squad a reinforced focus on offense heading into the 2025-26 campaign.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports.
Canucks Sign Thatcher Demko To Three-Year Extension
July 1: It will be a three-year extension for Demko when announced later today, PuckPedia reports. He will be a UFA upon expiry in 2029 at age 33. The team has now announced the deal, which is worth $25.5MM for a cap hit of $8.5MM. He will earn a $10.5MM salary in 2026-27, a $2MM salary and $6MM signing bonus in 2027-28, and a $1MM salary and $6MM signing bonus in 2028-29, according to PuckPedia. The contract also includes a full no-movement clause.
June 30: The Canucks are nearing an extension to keep goaltender Thatcher Demko in Vancouver past next season, sources inform the now-independent insider Frank Seravalli. He’s expected to sign the deal upon becoming eligible to do so tomorrow. They’re still ironing out the money and structure of the contract, but have agreed on its length, per Darren Dreger of TSN.
Demko’s early extension comes days after Dreger reported there was momentum on a new deal despite free agency still being a year away for the netminder. The presumably multi-year commitment comes after perhaps the two hottest-and-coldest seasons an NHLer can have. The 29-year-old’s 2023-24 campaign was outright dominant, posting a .918 SV%, 2.45 GAA, five shutouts, and a 35-14-2 record in 51 games as he finished as the Vezina Trophy runner-up.
Then, Demko sustained a knee injury in Game 1 of their playoff run that year, later revealed to be a popliteus muscle tear – an exceedingly rare injury for an athlete, which led to considerable uncertainty about his return timeline. He started the season on injured reserve and wasn’t cleared to return until December. When he did come back, he was in and out of the lineup due to unrelated injuries and an illness. That led to his numbers nosediving this season, as he logged a career-low .889 SV% and a 2.90 GAA in 23 appearances. That was still good for 1.4 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck, due to a demanding workload in terms of shot quality.
Long considered the organization’s goalie of the future, he had fully achieved that title and was their undisputed starter until late-offseason free agent signing Kevin Lankinen stepped up in his absence this year. During the campaign in which he posted a .902 SV% in 51 appearances, Vancouver rewarded him with a five-year, $22.5MM extension in February. That indicates they anticipate Lankinen handling more of a workload than a standard No. 2 option would for the foreseeable future. He also has a no-movement clause through 2026-27, so a trade isn’t on the table anytime soon.
That indicates the Canucks anticipate Demko’s injury significantly altering his career trajectory and his ability to handle 50-plus starts per season consistently. Presumably, his pending extension will reflect that. His track record, compared to Lankinen’s more limited deployment in heavy usage, means he should still be penciled in as the No. 1 option on the Canucks’ depth chart entering next season and for the foreseeable future. However, Vancouver could be betting on a more platoon approach to keep Demko healthy.
Demko will still count $5MM against Vancouver’s cap for 2025-26 as he enters the final season of the five-year, $25MM extension he signed in 2021.
Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.