The Pittsburgh Penguins will almost certainly be the only team Kris Letang ever plays for. The team announced a six-year, $36.6MM contract extension for the star defenseman, keeping him away from unrestricted free agency and likely taking him through retirement. General manager Ron Hextall released the following statement:
Kris epitomizes what it means to be a Pittsburgh Penguin. The role he plays on our team is irreplaceable, he is a leader in our locker room, and has made countless contributions to the organization over the last 15-plus years, which includes three Stanley Cup Championships. We are thrilled to make him a Penguin for life.
Letang, 35, will now carry a $6.1MM cap hit through the 2027-28 season, keeping him the Penguins’ highest-paid defenseman. Still, that number is much lower on a per-year basis than what he could have landed on the open market, or even than the $7.25MM he has carried for each of the last eight years.
The risk is obviously that Letang is already in his mid-thirties and could at any point, see a drastic decline in his performance. That hasn’t happened yet, as he actually set a career-high with 68 points this season, finishing seventh in Norris Trophy voting. For his career, Letang now has 650 points in 941 games, meaning he’ll reach the 1,000-game mark (and potentially the 700-point mark) if he stays healthy for the upcoming campaign.
Perhaps more importantly, this deal will not qualify for the lessened 35+ contract restrictions that were added in the 2020 CBA update. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports the salary breakdown will be as follows:
- 2022-23: $8.0MM
- 2023-24: $8.0MM
- 2024-25: $6.2MM
- 2025-26: $4.8MM
- 2026-27: $4.8MM
- 2027-28: $4.8MM
That front-loaded nature means that the full cap hit will be applied to the Penguins even if Letang retires before finishing the deal. While it gives the team some added flexibility in the coming years, it could very well be an anchor down the road.
The argument of course for the Penguins is that by then, Sidney Crosby will not be as effective (if he’s even still playing) and the team will no longer be trying to compete for the Stanley Cup. At that point, it doesn’t really matter if there is a large cap charge for a declining Letang, while the team goes through the inevitable stage of rebuilding. For now, this gives them the best chance at contending in 2022-23, the focus for Hextall and the new ownership group.
6 YEARS??? LOL. Deal will age bad
It already started.
Have to give to get. They got lower cap hit by giving longer term. 6.1 is a bargain for his talents. Anll
Seems like a lot of years for a guy who likely won’t be worth it halfway through it. Couldn’t really just lose him but I don’t know if giving a 35 year old a long term contract is ever a good idea.
2 years at 7 per Is an educated offer, Hextall Is stupid!!!!! And for Hextall to say Letang Is Irreplaceable Is simply a lie!!! How many teams did Gretzky play for?
Gretzky was done after he played for Kings.
They kept Letang and now have extra money to sign Malkin? Wow… Didn’t see that one coming.
I think that’s it’s been implied by many that that was what they were trying to do, but in reverse: hope to save a few bucks with Malkin so they could retain Letang. Which then begs the question: as much as most Pens fans want to see Gene return, how much should they really consider paying him? If ponying up for Malkin means losing Rakell or prevents them from otherwise filling out the roster adequately, it might not be worth it.
Lol it went from I’m only willing to give 3 years, but you want 5 so here’s 6 years. Good for Kris though! Hopefully there’s not a no movement in this contract after year 3.
@Silencethebell – Currently, CapFriendly shows his contract to have NMCs through 2025-26, with M-NTCs for the last two years (currently unconfirmed and stated as such on CapFriendly).
The contract itself is the trade protection after year 3. It will be unmovable. But who cares. The window is already closing. Might as well give yourself the best chance you have for a couple more years.
Yikes. I get they pretty much had to do it this way if they want to keep Malkin but giving him a higher AAV for fewer years would be so much more stomach-able. I’d be surprised if they even get 3 more good seasons out of him.
I can see a buyout in the near future
How about tomorrow?
Anyone who thought Letang was going to sign a shorter contract wasn’t seeing the signs that both the team and Letang were giving. And frankly it’s for less money than I thought it would take.
Why don’t hockey fans understand windows of contention and how they work? Every move is analyzed in a vacuum with a disinterest bordering on contempt for context.
This is GREAT work by Hextall.
A shorter deal with a higher AAV hurts what little opportunity we have left to contend. A longer deal means a bad contract when it DOES NOT MATTER AT ALL because we’re rebuilding.
Give Geno term for a lower AAV, too.
Stick to a 4 year or so deal with Jarry, though.
This logic only works if you believe the Pens still have a good shot to win over the next few seasons as currently composed.
I just hope that everyone who is advocating the “push all the chips to the middle while Crosby still draws breath” approach are willing to take the long-term pain that these salaries are all but sure to create down the road.
We are from Pittsburgh and are also Pirates fans. So hopefully not that bad, but yeah we can live with it.
By that logic, the Flyers shouldn’t even bother showing up to the building and getting dressed.
Letting along signing players.
Create?
As if we were going to be thriving Cup contenders in 2026 until dumb old Hextall handed out this deal…?
And I loved the Penguins as much when Milan Kraft was our number one center as I did when Mario or Sid was, so…I’m good. I understand the credit card bill for all our success is coming due.
Teams that haven’t been out of the first round in 5 years are in a “window of contention”?
Ok.
Agreed. And as you have said countless times, what recourse do they have? Crosby still plays at a high level and as such, what is the sense of tearing it all down and surrounding him with kids at this point?
Pens will be “Buffalo” in 4-5 years. Trading out Guentzel, Marino etc. Cap wil be not an issue for them at that moment. But for now Letang, Malkin and Crosby will be together as promised. Nice, for me.
Has Buffalo won 5 Cups in the past 30 years, made the playoffs more than any other team and had half of the top 10 players in NHL history on their roster?
If so, good for them.
Says six years, yet the salary breakdown only covers five years.
Sorry, the last one got cut out in an edit somehow. It’s another $4.8MM year.
Hextall sleeper agent.
Penguins just outbid themselves.
Wow.To many years.
The Penguins core Is aging and generally overpaid, It seems that GMs pay star players for what they have already accomplished as opposed to what they maybe capable of In the future. Hextall has never won anything as an executive and that telling trend will continue In Pittsburgh.
Don’t understand windows, don’t utilize context and I forgot the last part…NEVER ever bother to see if your alternatives actually exist in reality instead of vague templates in your mind.
“The Pens shouldn’t sign all of these older players, they should get “younger” and “better”!!!”
OK, who are these readily available younger and better players?
“Uhhhhhh…it doesn’t matter WHO they are….what matters is they were dumb to not get them…uhhh.”
Are we talking just young centers for who u don’t think are readily available going into free agency bc there’s Kadri, Copp, Trochek, and Strome just to name a few. If it’s across the board Forsberg and Gudreau are younger and better than Malkin, but obviously that’s all your cap money (unless by some miracle they dump a bad contract or 2 tonight).
Getting Letang at such a discount, with the potential to get similar savings out of Malkin suddenly makes keeping Rakell a possibility…even after keeping Rust. And if not Rakell, they can get another decent piece.
That is nice work by Hextall.
If he really wants to go for it, trade some picks to clear out Zucker or Pettersson and let’s go.
The possibility to get one of the Russian wingers falling out of the top 10 (as Pronman’s last two mocks have) makes keeping the first round pick intriguing.
If they both go before you pick, offer Seattle the #21, Zucker AND Pettersson for whatever scrub they want to send back. If they say no, call Arizona.