The new CBA of the NHL could help the Canucks to re -sign Quinn Hughes

It's time for a little Mea Culpa.

A few weeks ago I reported that the Vancouver Canucks Quinn Hughes could not sign in an eight -year contract. This is based on a report by Frank Seravalli about the daily face of the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NHL and the player association, the NHLPA, which has a provision that reduces the maximum duration of the contracts.

As part of the current collective agreement (CBA), the maximum length of a contract is eight years for an extension with its current team or seven years with a new team in the free agency. The MOU would reduce this for an expansion with the current team of a player and six years for a new team in the free agency to seven years.

I had confirmed with other sources that Seravalli was correct that this provision would be in the Mou. What Seravalli may have done wrong, and in a broader sense I got wrong when this change will come into force.

Seravalli reported that the change will take place before the end of the current CBA.

“The 2025-26 season (the free agency of the next week) will mark the last eight-year deals in the NHL,” said Seravalli.

Quinn Hughes has two years in his contract and can only sign a contract extension on July 1, 2026. Ergo, Hughes' new contract, which would begin in the 2027-28 season, would report the new rules in the Mou, according to Seravallis.

However, when the MOU was officially released in all its 167-page glory, she said that changes that were agreed in the document will come into force on September 16, 2026.

The main advantage that the new CBA could give the Canucks

As reported by Thomas Drance of the Athletic, this would mean that Hughes would sign an extension by eight -year contract extension at any time between July 1, 2026 to September 16, 2026.

“The next summer there is a time window in which contracts are still regulated by the current rules of the street,” said Drance on Halford & Brough in the morning on Sportsnet 650. “And the current rules of street theory that players can sign with their current team for eight years.”

Dranzes noted that the public may not have the entire MOU -“There are reduced parts of the MOU that only have access to certain protected areas of the NHLPA website or the NHL,”, however, stated that all agents with whom he spoke agreed with his interpretation. So it also worked when past CBAs came into force.

If this is the case, the Canucks actually have a great advantage when it comes to re -signing Quinn Hughes.

The Canucks could offer Hughes an extension of eight years next summer, while in 2027, if he became the Free Agency in 2027, he could only sign a six -year contract with a new team as an unrestricted free agent.

That would be a massive difference in the actual dollars. Hughes will probably be one of the best paid defenders of the NHL, similar to Drew Doughty or Rasmus Dahlin, who have $ 11 million caps for their current contracts. Based on the percentage of the upper limit of these contracts, when they have been signed, and the increasing salary limit in the next few years could sign Hughes again for $ 14-15 million a year.

With the two additional years of an eight-year contract, this is a difference of $ 28 to $ 30 million.

In addition, the Mou limits how much contracts can be invited to the front and how much contract compensation for the signing of bonuses, which are paid in a flat rate per season and are also guaranteed, even if a contract is bought or a locking out.

The Canucks could possibly unload a contract with Hughes and offer significant signing bonuses that are not permitted as part of the changed CBA from September 16, 2026 and give Hughes a lot more money in advance – a great advantage for a player with the right investment manager.

Well, not so quickly …

We have two contradictory reports about whether the players can sign eight -year contract extensions next summer. So which one of the two is correct: Seravalli or Drance?

Well, nobody is correct at the moment.

I turned to Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner and Chief Legal Officer of the NHL, regarding this topic. According to Daly, it is currently in the air if this part of the Mou will come into force.

“That has not yet been finally determined,” said Daly. “We are still planning to compose the union to discuss the implementation details, and this meeting has not yet happened.”

The players who are entitled to extensions next year would likely be able to sign eight -year extensions with massive signing bonuses. The owners of the teams could prefer that the Mou will be effective earlier and save some money.

The NHL and NHLPA may still have some negotiations to do when they come together to iron on how the Mou is implemented.

However, the Canucks may prefer that this change of MOU only come into force on September 16, 2026, since it increases a large leg in contract negotiations with Quinn Hughes.