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Här är spelet bakom Elias Petterssons rekordkontrakt i NHL
www.aftonbladet.se
Last week it got done - Elias Petterson's million dollars contract with the Vancouver Canucks.
The guy from Ånge is now the clubs best paid player of all time and the best paid Swede in NHL history.
It feels very good. Now I don't have to think about it anymore and can focus only on hockey, says Pettersson.
Sportbladet have talked with "EP40" and some of the key people in the negotations - and the road to the monster deal
Black text = headers
Italic = quotes
Several big Swedish player in the NHL have this season signed long and big contracts. First off was Rasmus Dahlin, followed by William Nylander and during the weekend the biggest one of them all was signed.
Elias Pettersson, 25 signed a eight year deal with the Vancouver Canucks and got a caphit of 11,6 million dollars per season.
A combined of 960 million SEK over 8 years.
-Of course it's crazy amounts that can be hard to stomach. But we've had our amount clear, which level we want Elias at, and we're very excited with the contract. But we've always had good discussions with Vancouver, says EP40s Swedish agent Johan Altberg whom have followed the Swedish superstar since he was only 16.
-Of course it's fantastic to been along for the whole ride and to write a contract like this. Not just for me as an agent or Elias as an individual, but his entire family and loved ones
Altberg have been involved in the talks with Vancouver's Swedish GM Patrik Allvin and club president Jim Rutherford. But it's his collegue in North America - the infamous Pat Brisson - who have negotatied and finished the deal which will turn Elias Petterson to a billionaire.
Canucks superstar starting at next season will be the best paid Swede in the NHL and only 4 players will make more: Connor McDavid, Artemi Panarin, Nathan MacKinnon and Auston Matthews.
Which says a lot about the status the Swedish forward got in the best league in the world and how important he is for Vancouver's future.
He might score over 100 points again
Altbergh wants to point at Pettersson's tremdenous passion for the sport.
- He's incredibly dedicated, the sacrifice and time he puts into his career is impressive. Elias is very careful with his diet, training, sleep and preperation. He even has his own chef. It takes a lot of a young guy to reach this point and get a multi million contact.
Elias Pettersson reached the 100 point mark last season and is going for the same thing this year. Patrik Allvin thinks even though he is a superstar in the NHL, he can get even better.
- We think there's even more upside, Elias can still evolve as a hockey player if he gets stronger. Our standard of training will continue to drive him forward says Allvin to Sportbladet.
The negotations for the contract have been ongoing for big parts of the current season. During the end of October and in the beginning of January, Johan Altberg was in North America, in Vancouver and New York respectively and had talks with the Vancouver top brass.
Later in January the club president Jim Rutherford extended his contract with the Canucks with another 3 years.
Many teams showed interest
When Elias Petterson said about his contract situation and was honest:
-We wait till the end of the season
But it would happen quicker than that. About a month later the contract was signed and sealed. The week before the mega contract rumours about Vancouver getting offers for their star center began to leak. Carolina Hurricanes were one team who showed concrete interest.
- We also heard about those rumours, but more than that I don't know. But those talks never reached us, says Altberg.
According to many observers it was believed to be part of the tactics from Vancouver to get Pettersson to sign as quickly as possible.
Afraid of a "Tkachuk-situation"
One explanation to why the Canucks were in a rush was to avoid a "Matthew Tkachuk situation". When the superstar Tkachuk in Summer of 2022 was a restricted free agent(RFA) the Calgary Flames still owned the rights to him and could match any potential bids from other teams. But the following year he would reach "Unrestricted free agent"-status(UFA) and could choose himself among all the offers. That's when Tkachuk told the Calgary brass he would only sign a one year contract with the team and then leave as a UFA in 2023. Which in turn made the Flames feel forced to trade the Canadian(writers note: error on their part) immediately so they wouldn't lose him for nothing a year later.
Exactly that back tied could Vancouver have been by Petterson, whom like Thachuk had only one season to reach UFA status.
"Felt like the right timepoint"
Elias agreed to sign the long time contract came down to multiple factors, Johan Altberg tells us.
-At the beginning he wanted to wait till the end of the season, se how it would go for him and the team, But with time it had felt so good, both for him on the ice and how the team had performed and it felt like the right time point, says the agent
Why do you think Vancouver was in a hurry?
- Elias is such an important puzzle piece to them and they of course wanted to get the biggest contract and then build downward.
Elias Pettersson is also happy that everything is finished:
- It feels very good. Now I don't have to think about it anymore and can focus only on hockey, he says to Sportbladet
This could be Pettersson first purchase
Patrik Allvin comments the process until the much talked about contract like this:
- It always talks time with these sorts of decisions. I have the outmost respect for Elias that he wanted to take his time. It's important that he and I have a good relationship. It's important for him to see our vision we want to work with, his relationship with Rick Tocchet also plays into it, says Allvin.
Vancouver have under a year gone from a notirious bottomfeeder team to one of NHL's best teams and a serious Stanley Cup contender. Many point towards Allvin the Swede and also Rick Tocchet as a big reason for the transformation.
- Elias really likes Tocchet as a coach and really wants to work with him in the future. Also he feels a love to the city and the whole organisation the way it's run right now, says Altberg.
The contract that's worth 960 million SEK is now signed and seal. So the question is what is the first thing Elias Pettersson is gonna buy himself now that he's signed the multi-million contract?
- Haha, I don't know yet, I'm gonna let it sink in first before I hastely buy something. But it's leaning towards a new watch, says Pettersson
