VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The Vancouver Canucks signed recently acquired defenseman Marcus Pettersson to a six-year, $33 million contract extension on Wednesday.
The Canucks acquired the 28-year-old Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor from Pittsburgh last Friday night, hours after sending forward J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers.
Pettersson, who was a pending unrestricted free agent, has three goals and 15 assists in 49 games this season, including two with the Canucks. He played a season-high 25:57 in his Vancouver debut in a 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit on Sunday. He followed it up with 23:03 of ice time in Vancouver’s 3-0 win over Colorado on Tuesday.
“In just a couple of games, Marcus has already shown us the type of leadership, poise and character that we want in a top-four defenceman,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in a statement. “He has a calming influence on the ice, uses his long reach and hockey smarts to break up plays, and has a good first pass to help us create more offensively.
“We are extremely happy to get this deal done and look forward to working with him in both the short term and long term.”
The 6-foot-5, 174-pound Swede has 17 goals and 134 assists and 294 penalty minutes in 493 NHL games split between the Canucks, Penguins and Anaheim.
The Ducks drafted Pettersson in the second round, 38th overall, of the 2014 NHL draft.
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The Associated Press