Jason Garrison gets 6-year, $27.6 million deal from Vancouver Canucks

Earlier this week, Jason Garrison told the Vancouver Province that in regards to choosing his future as an unrestricted free agent, "You don't want to go somewhere just for financial purposes. You want the fit, play the minutes and play a role that you know you can play and obviously have a chance of winning."

After Garrison helped the Florida Panthers reach the postseason for the first time in 12 years, he'll be moving on to a team that's been playing regularly in late April and getting a nice payday at the same time.

Per TSN's Bob McKenzie, Garrison is heading home to British Columbia after signing a 6-year, $27.6 million deal with the Vancouver Canucks. That's a raise from the $700,000 he made in 2011-12. Should Roberto Luongo ever get traded, Garrison would hold the longest contract on the Vancouver books.

After the Panthers signed Filip Kuba to a 2-year, $8 million deal earlier in the day, the writing was on the wall for Garrison's future in South Florida.

Garrison will play a key role on the Canucks' power play now that Sami Salo is off to Tampa Bay. The 27-year blueliner scored 9 of his 16 goals last season with the extra man and was third in the NHL among defensemen in goals. While Garrison is perceived as mainly an offensive defenseman with his booming slap shot from the back, he's also responsible defensively.

But now with security for the first time in his professional hockey career, Garrison will have time to prove his offensive production from this past season wasn't a fluke.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy