Saturday: CapFriendly has a breakdown of Wilson’s six-year, $31MM contract. Wilson will also have a modified NTC, which includes a 10-team no trade list for 2020-21 and 2021-22, followed by a seven-team no-trade list f0r 2022-23 and 2023-24.
2018-19: $1.1M Base + $5M SB
2019-20: $1.5M Base + $3M SB
2020-21: $2.1M Base + $2M SB
2021-22: $3.1M Base + $3M SB
2022-23: $2.1M Base + $2M SB
2023-24: $5.1M Base + $1M SB
Friday: The defending Stanley Cup champions have their muscle in place for the next several years. The Washington Capitals announced this evening that they have re-signed restricted free agent forward Tom Wilson to a six-year, $31MM contract extension. Wilson’s annual cap hit will be $5.17MM through 2023-24. CapFriendly reports that $15MM of the contract is in base salary and the other $16MM is in signing bonuses, while adding that the final three years of the contract carry a Modified No-Trade Clause. Wilson himself tweeted out his excitement to be remaining in D.C. for the foreseeable future.
At first glance, the first impression of this contract is that it might be an over-payment by the Capitals. This salary over this amount of time puts Wilson in a similar bracket with recent signings like Jonathan Marchessault, Josh Bailey, Alexander Wennberg, and Mikael Backlund – all players relied on as primary offensive contributors for their teams. Wilson is not that type of player for Washington, rather a two-way forward known more for his aggressive defensive play and checking ability. In fact, it is hard to think of any forward with Wilson’s career production to date ever landing a contract worth more than $5MM per year. However, the Capitals have always been clear about how highly they regard the young power forward. GM Brian MacLellan reiterated those feelings in the team’s release, stating:
“Tom is an invaluable member of our team and we are pleased that he will play a great part in our foreseeable future. Tom is a unique player in this League. At 24 years of age, he has an impressive amount of experience and we believe that he will only continue to grow and improve as a player. With his ability to play in virtually any game situation, teams need players like Tom in order to succeed in the NHL.”
Wilson certainly helped himself in negotiations with his postseason performance. His five goals and ten assists made him a crucial piece to Washington’s cap run. His playoff heroics were also cited by the team in the release and that clutch factor is yet another reason that the Capitals feel so strongly about Wilson moving forward. Add that to career-high’s across the board and it makes some sense why the team may see Wilson’s value on the rise.
With Wilson’s contract complete, the Capitals have signed all of their restricted free agents and CapFriendly currently projects that they will enter the season with the third-highest payroll and only $1.1MM in cap space. Interestingly, the money used to afford Wilson this season is just about $300K of what Washington would have been paying defenseman Brooks Orpik before he was traded to and subsequently bought out by the Colorado Avalanche. Orpik has since resigned with the Caps for $1MM and Wilson gets the money he wanted. Everything has worked out nicely for the Stanley Cup champs this off-season. With most of their roster returning and most of their core signed long-term, Wilson and the Capitals may have another Cup run in them over the course of this contract.
Wtf…..
I would have expected 4 mil. 4.5 at the most. This is just too much
This a deal that in a few years we can look back and say it was bad from the moment it was signed.
They won’t need to wait a few years. They’ll be saying it a couple of months into the first season.
I don’t think it is that bad, for a 24 year old power forward who averaged .75 points per game. He is one of a kind in the league and only getting better
See lucic, Milan
He had a down year, before last year I would think he would be worth 5.17
Backes, David
Perry, Corey
Clarkson, David
Idk if the point you’re making is that he’s not one of a kind or that these players lead to bad contracts. But they all broke down around the age of 30. If that’s the case with Wilson, this deal might actually not turn out too bad for Washington.
These guys are all older, which one of them is in their mid 20s and on the way up?
On the way up? The amount of delusion surrounding this guy is incredible. 35 points in 78 games and the potential for long suspensions makes this a terrible contract. They better hope the Avs stay bad and can take another Orpik salary dump deal
15 points in 21 games in the playoffs, yea seems like an increase in production. Oh and a Cup in his back pocket for the trouble.
Need to make the playoffs first. 35 points in 78 games is a more applicable statistic when handing out contracts.
If having a cup was the reason to give out long term high AAV contracts then why didn’t tell someone tell devante smith-pelly. good luck fitting burakowsky next year
The Avs stay bad? This comment alone shows you have no idea what you are talking about.
DaBeav –
Agreed…
we’re just making up stats now? or are you just taking the small sample size from the playoffs?
As a caps fan I don’t like the aav at all, has some potential and game changing ability but he’s not worth 5.17 when players like patrick maroon are making 1.75 or so.
Wilson is a douche bag
He is. I love him.
Wow… just wow… horrible contract. Way too much money. Way too much term. Just awful.
Congrats and welcome to the club Tom!
Rick DiPietro
President of bad Hockey contracts
Mike Milbury said this is a good contract
that’s all you need to know right there.
Hate this guy’s guts
This is just like the horrible contract Bowman gave Bryan Bickell after a couple very good playoff runs. Cap he’ll is coming
It is an overpay for a player who scored 35 points. I get that the Capitals like his toughness & penalty killing, but that doesn’t mean you pay him more than 5 million a season. Wilson will have to become a more productive offensive player (and he will need to stay on the ice & not suspended) for this to be a good deal for Washington. He’ll need to be a 20+ goal scorer and score 55-60 points a season. Otherwise, this will be a contract that the Caps regret.
Good for Wilson to get someone to pay him that much. IMHO, the Caps waaaaay overpaid. Fan favorite? Sure. Suspensions? You bet! It’s not like he’s Marchand and getting 80 points a year and being a dumbass….
Dirty player and a gutless coward, but (sadly) he did help them win and this contract isn’t terrible.
let’s see if you are saying that in two years.