NHL insider Elliotte Friedman has weighed in on the situation between the Vancouver Canucks and forward Brock Boeser, who remains without a contract extension ahead of unrestricted free agency this summer.
Friedman believes the main holdup in contract talks is a disagreement on term length. Reports earlier suggested the Canucks offered Boeser a five-year extension at $8 million per year, but he declined the deal.
As Friedman saidon Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines segment:
“Number 2, Brock Boeser. Iain MacIntyre (Canucks writer) said he thought it would be unlikely to stay in Vancouver. I understand the big issue here is term. Never say never but term is the issue here that both Boeser and Canucks have found hard to bridge.”
For his part, Boeser has made it clear he is trying to avoid the distraction of contract talks so he can focus on his on-ice performance down the stretch. He believes tuning out off-ice noise has helped his play recently. As Boeser told Sportsnet,
“I feel like I’m playing a lot better hockey recently, and I don’t want to get distracted. That’s one of the things I’ve learned: When there’s distractions,I don’t play my best hockey.”
This season, Boeser has 25 goals in 72 games. He is in his ninth NHL campaign, all with Vancouver, and has 204 goals and 433 points in 551 career games.
Brock Boeser shares his thoughts on Canucks missing playoffs
Brock Boeser expressed his disappointment over the team’s failure to make the playoffs this season. He acknowledged that the inability to win crucial games when it mattered most was a significant factor in their missed opportunity.
“It hurts. We wanted to be in the playoffs again so bad. If you get in, you never know what can happen.” Boeser said. (per Sportsnet)
Boeser said the Canucks were playing well when they had a healthy lineup, but the constant barrage of injuries and distractions throughout the year ultimately took a toll on their performance.
“We’ve had the distractions this year and injuries throughout the lineup all year. Yeah, it’s been a rough year. But there’s no excuses; we didn’t win hockey games when we were supposed to.”
With the Canucks out of playoff contention, Boeser and the team have three regular season games remaining.
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Edited by Debasish
