Quintin Hughes has signed a new contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Story is he signed on condition of burning off a year of his ELC. Otherwise he would return to college next year. Not crazy about the strategy to willingly a burn off a year of an ELC, esp with the way RFA salaries have escalated in the past year. He has 3 more years til he would become an UFA and I doubt he would hold out that long. Would he stay out of NHL and risk injury for next season (and 2 more after) regardless? Unlikely. GMs in the NHL need to start showing more backbone with players with no leverage. ??‍♀️

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he needs to play in at least 10 games in order to burn a year off of his ELC, otherwise it would slide. With only 13 games left, one would hope that management would give him a 9 game try-out and allow his contract to slide and therefore, begin next year.

If he plays his 9 games he burns a year on his ELC and (I think) he’s eligible for Seattle Expansion Draft.

With college players that sign in season the first year of the contract is burned when the play 1 game for example Mittelstadt only played 6 games last year and burned a year playing one game this year was the second of his ELC

916k instead of 925k. Sounds like a good deal to me.

916K for 2 full seasons (plus a few games this year).

vs

925K for 3 full seasons.

------------------------------

I'll take option 2 please.

But my ideal option would be 895K for 3 full seasons (2020-21 + 2021-22 + 2022-23) with one more year of college development.

That'll give him 2 extra years on his ELC at a time when Vancouver might be good enough to compete (and he'll be good enough to help).

He will be good enough to help by next year IMO.

Signing him to a contract now means that if they somehow make the playoffs and he's done his NCAA season, they can pull him up for up to 9 games and give him a taste of the NHL, just like the Sabres did with Mittelstadt last year.

Nope, despite the likes, you’re incorrect. See Mittelstadt, Casey; Gaudreau, Johnny for a couple examples. Gaudreau played just 1 game and a year was burned off. Same will happen for Hughes. It’s an exception to the 10-game rule as @SabresFan1996 noted above.

The story is Hughes would only sign if a year is burned off & he becomes an RFA come 2021. I’m not sure about his eligibility for the expansion draft however, a concern raised by @HockeyWise, but if it’s tied to the same criteria then he could be considered eligible with 3 pro years under his belt by the time of the 21 draft. Not like Vancouver has anyone on defence they’d probably want to really hold onto by that point.

It’s reasons like this why I was the only one, it seems, who voted “no” to this contract! What the hey guys? Better to wait 15 months til he’s played 3 years in college and push back his RFA date to 2023. Or trade him if the little brat won’t sign.

Quinton*

His entry-level signing age is 20, and therefore he is ineligible for a slide. If you look on his player page you will notice the blue slide arrow is missing: https://www.capfriendly.com/players/quintin-hughes