The Islanders are signing RFA defenseman Alexander Romanov to an eight-year, $50MM extension, PuckPedia reports. The deal will carry a cap hit of $6.25MM. The team has since confirmed the deal. He receives no-move protection from 2026-27 through 2029-30 and a 16-team no-trade list from 2029-30 through 2032-33 as part of the deal, per PuckPedia.
Romanov, 25, lands his big payday after taking a three-year, $7.5MM bridge deal from the Isles in 2022. That decision worked out well for him, and he’ll now be one of the team’s most well-compensated defenders through the expiry of his deal following the 2032-33 season.
The 6’1″ lefty has panned out nicely since the Islanders paid a steep acquisition price to land him from the Canadiens at the 2022 draft, parting ways with a pick that was flipped to the Blackhawks for Frank Nazar. He’s coming off his best NHL season yet. While injuries limited him to 64 games, he still produced 20 points for a career-best 0.31 per-game rate and averaged a career-high 22:18 per game.
Romanov always projected as a stout defensive presence; whether he would avoid being too much of an offensive liability to deploy in a top-four role was always the question with his ceiling. He’s answered it now, fitting well in transition despite never being a big-time point producer in his own right. His possession metrics haven’t been particularly impactful one way or another, considering his slightly defensively-oriented deployment, but he’s shown legitimate minute-munching ability while also generating over 200 shot attempts in each of the last four years. He’s also one of the league’s most physically involved defenders, recording 100-plus hits and blocks every year since 2021-22.
There will be a bit of sticker shock on that $6.25MM price tag for a defenseman with an offensive skill set as simple as Romanov’s. Considering the recent comparables set by extensions in the $5MM range for Kevin Bahl and Nicolas Hague, though, it comes across as fair value.
He’ll be a long-term anchor for the Islanders’ left side that still includes Adam Pelech and gained Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick in last week’s draft. The team has $14.7MM in cap space left this summer with Emil Heineman, Simon Holmstrom, and Maxim Tsyplakov among its notable RFAs still to sign.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Close enough, welcome back Lou.
Never learn 🤦🏻♂️
Great signing
I don’t know why people are upset with this. When like half of the islanders defense were hurt it was Romanov holding down the fort. He’s one of the few good players. He’s a defense first defenseman and a good one at that.
My guess is the term. Part of that comes from the fact they already have so many locked up for so long. I do question whether Romanov is they type of player you need to go out and deal 8 years for. As a Hawks fan, Hjalmarsson was my favorite player from the Cup teams but I wouldn’t have wanted them to go max contract for him. Maybe I’m in the minority now though given the likes of Trent Frederic and others at this point.
I agree that it’s the term people have issues with. I don’t really see the issue though. Caps going up, you need players like Romanov, could argue it should’ve been 5 years at 5.5. But I think having him around when you have a D man lake Keshawn Aitcheson in the pipeline is a good idea, could be a veteran that helps him develop into a good physical NHL D man. But yeah, I think personally I like this deal, maybe should’ve done 5-6 years instead of 8.
Woo, that signing is an answer to a question no one was asking. Romanov is a nice player, sure, might even be a very good player in his peak years. But a star that needs 8 years, he is not.
8 years for a 25 year old defenseman coming off his best season isn’t exactly unreasonable (would’ve preferred 6 but oh well), ending the contract at 33 means he should still be a quality hockey player near the end of this deal.
6.25 mil per year is also a bit higher than I would’ve liked as well, but he was never getting less than 5.5 and with the cap rising, that rate for a top 4, 20+ mpg 25 year old defenseman seems acceptable.
This feels like a team who is conceptualizing the salary cap like they are Disco Stu,
“Did you know that disco record sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976? If these trends continue… aayyy!”
So playoff cap is the 80s :D
It doesn’t appear that they have any conception of what a salary cap is.
Crazy. Why is he getting an 8-year contract?