Marcus Pettersson Speaks to Media Following Signing a Six-Year Contract Extension with Canucks

Marcus Pettersson inked a six-year, $33 million contract on Wednesday evening and met with the media on Thursday afternoon to answer questions about his new deal.

Pettersson began by discussing his expectations for the Vancouver Canucks in the future.

"Expectations are high. It's a young, hungry group looking to win every game we can and looking to go far in the playoffs. So, expectations are high. That's kind of my decision with signing with the team too,” he said.

The 28-year-old defenceman’s cap hit will be $5,500,000 through the next six seasons and he has a no-move clause in the first three years followed by a modified no-trade clause in his final three years of the contract.

Away from the rink, Pettersson said that he watched a few Canucks’ games in the playoffs and loved seeing how the city rallied around the team.

“A Canadian market is going to be a little bit new [and different] than I'm used to, but I'm really excited,” said Pettersson. “There are great people in the city, it's a city that really loves its players and rallies around them when the team needs it.”

Pettersson mentioned that it was a big decision to sign with the Canucks for six years after being here for less than a week. He gave credit to the familiarity with management as something that helped him come to a quick decision and sign up for six years with Vancouver.

One of the skills that Canucks’ General Manager Patrik Allvin likes most about Pettersson is his leadership qualities and how he is a player who isn’t afraid to speak up in the room.

Pettersson spoke to his leadership ability and what he hopes to bring to the Canucks’ locker room.

“I've always tried to be myself. I try to be as vocal as I can and help everybody. Some of the guys said a lot of good things about me in Pittsburgh and I’m really grateful for that. It's not something that I try to go out of my way [to do] but it's for sure something that's a little bit of my nature.”

Pettersson mentioned Tyler Myers being a major help for him to feel comfortable in the room. He also mentioned knowing Kiefer Sherwood from Pittsburgh and that Conor Garland is a loud voice in the room. He also spoke highly of Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser as great guys in the room.

Pettersson was asked about his takeaways from playing seven seasons with a great leader like Sidney Crosby. Pettersson shared the significance of setting an example and how every day requires a mindset where improvement is the most important thing.

“He leads by example on the ice, I think the competitiveness, the will to be better every day, sort of like came from him,” said Pettersson of Crosby. “And then obviously off the ice, I think he's a really good team player in the sense that he brings everybody together when you're on the road and stuff. I was there for maybe a week when I felt very welcomed by him and the other guys there too.”

As he closed out the English portion of his media availability, Pettersson explained how he picked up ‘Dragon’ as a nickname.

“It's fine with me,” said Pettersson when asked if we could call him Dragon. “It's something that came from my days in Anaheim. It was Trent Yawney, the assistant coach there. He asked me if I was good at basketball or whatever. And I kind of jokingly said that my PE teacher, back in middle school, or whatever it was, called me ‘The Dragon’ when we played basketball. He loved it, and being young at the time, I didn't know that it would stick. So, there's not much more behind that. I haven't been called it in a long time, but I guess OC (Drew O’Connor), when he came over, told all the guys here. A couple of the training staff that [were] in Pittsburgh knew of it too. So yeah, it's kind of funny, but hopefully it doesn't stick too long.”

Pettersson’s extension kicks in this summer and will conclude after the 2030-31 season.