Post by Canucks - Admin on Jul 13, 2023 7:47:13 GMT -6
Above image: Eetu Luostarinen outside of Hamburgler's Gym, Siilinjarvi, Finland.
A stressful few days of anticipation have come and gone for Vancouver GM Aaron Sanderson, with the best-case scenario coming true early this a.m. as management found that young farm phenom, Eetu Luostarinen, was not given an offer sheet by any rival GM's.
What this means for the Canucks is that Eetu was signed for $5.5mil on a 4 year term this morning, much to many of the Vancouver fan's approval.
"Obviously, we would have preferred to make an extension happen last year mid-season, but Eets(Eetu) worked hard enough and his agent forced our hand a bit by insisting on going through the offer sheet process, but that is the business of hockey. Even at $5.5mil, we feel he is a steal in this league going forward." Stated GM Sanderson.
We asked the Canucks GM about the offer sheet period, as well as the choice to go for a longer contract at 4 years, as opposed to a 2 year contract that would potentially give the team maximum years of control with Loustarinen, who is just 24 years old at the time of this writing.
"It was interesting. Yesterday morning we thought that the offer sheet period would turn out to be very quiet, but by mid-day it was getting pretty hectic. By the time it was all over, some really interesting offers had taken place. Once it got busy, we absolutely thought there was possibility that a team would make an offer on Eetu, but we were prepared to match any offers that came our way. We heard rumours about Chicago and Boston, but they ended up being unfounded....", offered Sanderson, "...when it comes to term, we did spend a bit of time thinking on this one. We strongly considered giving him(Eetu) a 2 year contract, but in the end, we felt that Eets is a special player, and we see really big things for him on the team, so the best financial move is to lock him in at maximum term of 4 years, and really, we will see what happens in 2027(when Eetu's new contract expires), but we fully expect to be thrilled about offering him an elite lecvel contract at that point, because we believe he is going to make it a no-brainer for us".
The Vancouver Canucks also had farm regulars Jordy Bellerive and Otto Leskinen come through the RFA process with league standard contracts. For those wondering why the Canucks did not make any RFA offers, it is thought that their lack of draft picks for compensation in 2023 was a major factor, including management's disdain for the entire process of "Inflationary behaviour" in general.
