The Vancouver Canucks have signed winger Jake DeBrusk to a 7-year contract with a $5.5 million average annual value. The Canucks have also signed forwards Kiefer Sherwood (2 yrs, $1.5 million) and Danton Heinen (2 yrs, $2.25 million), as well as defenseman Derek Forbort (1 yr, $1.5 million).

The Canucks receive: DeBrusk, who hasn't always been a consistent scorer, but he does have three 20-goal seasons and five 40-point seasons under his belt. DeBrusk reached 40 points in 2023-24 even while floating between lines centered by Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha. However, he couldn't get past 50 points even with regular minutes alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Regardless, DeBrusk should receive a boost over last season with a move to Vancouver, since Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller represent an upgrade over Coyle and Zacha.

The Canucks were in the market for a winger this offseason, having cleared some cap space by buying out the ineffective Ilya Mikheyev. There is a straight path for DeBrusk to play on a line with Pettersson, as a lack of a scoring winger contributed to Pettersson's struggles late in the season and into the playoffs. It's also possible that DeBrusk could start on Miller's line with Brock Boeser moving back to Pettersson's line. All in all, this move has the potential to improve the fantasy values of all involved.

DeBrusk could reach 50 points for the second time in his career, as it appears that he'll also slot in on the top power play with Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, and Quinn Hughes. He had been used on the Bruins' top power play at times, but more often than not he has received below 50 percent of Boston's available power-play minutes.

Sherwood and Heinen should receive regular minutes on the bottom 6. Heinen in particular has the scoring upside to move up to the top 6 in the event of injuries or line juggling.

Players this helps, in order:

DeBrusk

Pettersson

Miller

Players this hurts, in order:

Pius Suter

Filip Hronek

Nils Hoglander

Discuss the signing in this thread on the Forum.