Anaheim Ducks Trade Sami Vatanen To New Jersey Devils
The Anaheim Ducks have swung a massive trade with the New Jersey Devils, dealing Sami Vatanen and a conditional third-round draft pick for Adam Henrique, Joseph Blandisi and a 2018 third-round pick. The deal immediately addresses the Ducks’ need at center, while Vatanen adds a huge piece to the Devils’ blueline. There is no salary retained by either side.
The conditions on the pick are as follows:
- If Anaheim signs Henrique to an extension prior to the 2019 draft, Anaheim will transfer their 2019 third-round pick.
- If Anaheim signs Henrique to an extension after the 2019 draft, Anaheim will transfer their 2020 third-round pick.
- If Anaheim does not sign Henrique to an extension before he becomes a free agent on July 1, 2019, no pick will be transferred.
This deal comes as an unexpected end to a long-standing expectation that Vatanen would eventually be moved out of Anaheim, as the Ducks are flush with defenders and had a hole up front. With injuries to Ryan Kesler and Ryan Getzlaf the center depth was tested this season, and was a clear spot for upgrade. Henrique is a versatile forward who can play both center and wing, giving the Ducks options once everyone is healthy.
The 27-year old forward is signed through next season at a $4MM cap hit, but is actually owed $5MM this season and $5.5MM in 2018-19. His relatively back-loaded contract allows the Ducks to acquire Blandisi as well without adding any cap to their books, as Vatanen carried a $4.875MM hit through 2019-20.
Interestingly, Vatanen’s partial no-trade clause was set to kick in next summer but as CapFriendly points out the Devils now actually have the option to void it. While teams generally try to honor the contract details given out by former employers, it could be in New Jersey’s best interest to get rid of that clause. Vatanen is an extremely valuable trade piece (as seen today) and could be flipped if the Devils aren’t competing quite as quickly as the early season has shown.
The 26-year old Vatanen will immediately fill a role with the Devils as a primary puck-mover, something he’s excelled at over his career. Along with Damon Severson, the team’s right-side now looks formidable as they try to return to the playoffs just a year after winning the draft lottery and picking first overall.
In Anaheim, Vatanen was an expendable piece because of the immediate impact Brandon Montour has made and the depth of their defensive pipeline. Though Shea Theodore was sacrificed in the expansion process, the Ducks still have Jaccob Larsson and Josh Mahura among other young prospects, not to mention Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm already leading the team.
Blandisi, 23, is not to be overlooked in the deal. Another potential center for the Ducks, the sixth-round pick has turned into quite the offensive player over the last few years. He exploded as an over-aged junior player in 2014-15 by scoring 52 goals and 112 points for the Barrie Colts, and has carried that skill over to the professional ranks. In 68 NHL games over the last two seasons he has 26 points, though he had been stuck in the minors this year.
Amazingly, the Devils were able to part with two talented forwards because of the emergence of other options up front. Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt have both made immediate impacts, allowing the team to move on from some of their old guard. With Taylor Hall once again playing to his superstar status, the team has more than enough firepower up front even without Henrique.
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Vegas Golden Knights Sign Brayden McNabb To Four-Year Extension
The Vegas Golden Knights have signed defenseman Brayden McNabb to a four-year, $10MM extension. McNabb was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. The $2.5MM cap hit is a raise over his current $1.7MM contract, and will carry through the 2021-22 season. The deal contains no signing bonuses, and the salary breaks down as follows:
- 2018-19: $3.0MM
- 2019-20: $2.5MM
- 2020-21: $2.5MM
- 2021-22: $2.0MM
McNabb, 26, has become an integral piece for the Golden Knights. Always a strong possession player in Los Angeles, McNabb was never asked to log big minutes for the Kings as they had several defenders ahead of him in the depth chart. That showed once again when they left him unprotected, only for Vegas to snatch him up and immediately give him a much more important role. McNabb has been averaging close to 20 minutes a game for the Golden Knights, and has given them a dangerous physical presence on the blueline.
This extension marks truly the first long-term contract handed out by the Golden Knights, as Erik Haula‘s three-year deal was the previous longest. Reilly Smith, the only other player under contract with Vegas past 2019-20, had already agreed to his five-year extension with the Florida Panthers before he was traded at the expansion draft. That should give a clear message to McNabb that they want him as part of the Golden Knights core going forward. GM George McPhee said as much to Jesse Granger of the Las Vegas Sun:
McNabb is a very good defensive defenseman. He’s got a long stick, and is good with his stick. He’s locked down some top opposing players for us and we hope he’s here for the rest of his career.
The $2.5MM cap hit is one that should excite Vegas fans. If McNabb can reliably hold down a top-4 spot for the Golden Knights through the duration of the contract, he’ll make a remarkably affordable asset for the team. As we discussed earlier today, Vegas could be huge players in the 2019 free agent class and to do so they’ll need contributors on relatively inexpensive deals throughout the rest of the roster. Even if McNabb is relegated to fewer minutes and the third pairing, $2.5MM is a reasonable amount to pay.
In fact, it already compares favorably to some other third-pairing options around the league. Kevan Miller in Boston signed a similar four-year, $10MM contract in 2016 and logs fewer than 19 minutes a night for the Bruins, while Michael Stone is earning $3.5MM for this and another two seasons from the Calgary Flames to play fewer than 17. McNabb doesn’t have a huge resume of top minutes, but if the early season is any indication this contract may turn out to be a steal for the Golden Knights.
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Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Cam Atkinson To Seven-Year Extension
After a report earlier today that negotiations had heated up, Cam Atkinson has signed a seven-year $41.125MM ($5.875MM AAV) contract extension with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Atkinson was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and had been rumored to be looking at an average salary of $6MM. That would make this deal seem like a bit of a bargain for Columbus, especially given his importance to the team.
Atkinson, 28, has flourished with the Blue Jackets since becoming an NHL regular, with four straight 20-goal seasons including a career-high of 35 last year. The diminutive forward has climbed all the way from the sixth-round of the NHL Entry Draft to star status in the league, finding great offensive success at every step along the way. In 397 career games Atkinson has 233 points which already ranks him fourth all-time in Blue Jackets history. His 125 goals for the club put him behind only Rick Nash on the Columbus career leaderboard.
The easy comparable for this contract will be the one T.J. Oshie signed this summer, when he re-upped with the Washington Capitals for a similar salary. Oshie’s deal is one year longer, but similarly locks him up longer than the team probably wanted in order to keep the cap hit down. Atkinson will be 29 when the deal kicks in, meaning the team is paying him through his age-35 season. It’s unlikely he’ll keep up the same pace for that long, but paying $5.875MM for a potential 30-goal scorer will allow Columbus to keep most of the rest of their core together.
While Atkinson has just six points so far this year, it’s not just his offensive production that makes him so valuable. Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella uses Atkinson in all situations including the penalty kill, and he’s averaging more than 19 minutes per night this season. Though Columbus’ powerplay hasn’t gotten out of the starting blocks yet this season, if it does start clicking you can bet Atkinson will be in the middle of it. Last season he recorded 21 points with the man advantage, trailing only Alexander Wennberg in that category.
Amazingly, the new deal puts Atkinson as just the third-highest paid player on the club behind Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky and will allow them to do more to keep their club together in the next few years. Over the next two offseasons, Columbus has decisions to make and new contracts to sign with a dozen or so huge parts of their team, including players like Zach Werenski, Ryan Murray and Bobrovsky. Getting Atkinson locked in for a reasonable amount lets them know exactly what they have to work with, and where they need to shave salary.
This is another one of the big names to come off next summer’s UFA list, with several more to come before the end of the year. Even though all eyes are still on John Tavares as the head of that group, players like Atkinson, Evander Kane and James van Riemsdyk help fill out what looks right now to be quite the impressive offensive class. We’ll have to wait and see just who remains on July 1st.
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic broke the news of the extension, though originally had it down as a slightly lower salary.
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Matt Duchene Traded To Ottawa, Turris to Nashville
The long-awaited trade, and I mean long-awaited, has finally happened as the Colorado Avalanche have traded their 26-year-old franchise center Matt Duchene to the Ottawa Senators in a three-team trade with the Nashville Predators, according to Elliotte Friedman. Ottawa will send veteran center Kyle Turris to Nashville, while Colorado receives a package of players and picks.
According to Friedman, the Avalanche will receive defenseman Samuel Girard and winger Vladislav Kamenev from Nashville and center Shane Bowers and goaltender Andrew Hammond from Ottawa. The Avs will also receive Ottawa’s 2018 first-round pick (top-10 protected), Nashville’s 2018 second-round pick and Ottawa’s 2019 third-round pick in the deal. Friedman adds that if the Senators 2018 first-round pick falls in the top 10, then it rotates to a 2019 first-rounder instead.
As part of the deal, the Predators have extended Turris with a six-year, $36MM extension that ensures him a long-term place as the team’s second-line center.
Those three teams attempted to complete a similar deal yesterday, but the deal fell through and after it was leaked to the press, many thought the trade could not be revisited. However, with two disgruntled players in Duchene and Turris, the three teams were able to get the deal done. In fact, the team made the trade in the middle of their game with the New York Islanders as Duchene was informed and removed from the game during the first period of action. Ironically, he will join his new teammates in Sweden when they face off against the Avalanche for two games on Nov. 10 and 11.
Duchene, the team’s face of their franchise for the last several years, was the third overall pick in 2009 and has been a key scorer for the team over the past nine seasons. The 26-year-old center has scored 178 goals and 250 assists in 585 games for Colorado. However, as the team has struggled especially over the past three years, combining for 100-126-20 record, the disgruntled center had hoped to be traded, but the high demands of general manager Joe Sakic made it difficult for teams to acquire Duchene. Instead, an entire offseason of speculation only created more drama and when training camp opened and Duchene was still in Colorado, he demanded a trade. Part of the problem was Duchene’s poor performance last year when the team had 56 losses and the center’s numbers were down. He tallied just 18 goals and 41 points last year. Duchene rebounded slightly this year, having put up four goals and six assists in 12 games.
In Ottawa, Duchene replaces Turris, a long-time member of the franchise who has scored 117 goals for the Senators in seven season. Turris, who would have been a free agent next year, wanted a seven-year deal with the franchise and at age 28, the team was hesitant to give him that type of long-term deal, especially when they have already committed a lot of money to aging players such as Dion Phaneuf and Bobby Ryan. Duchene gives the franchise more time as he is locked into his five-year, 30MM deal until after the 2018-19 season. And, at age 26, is a little younger than Turris.
Turris gives the Predators the second-string center they needed. This allows free agent acquisition Nick Bonino to center the team’s third line and Colton Sissons and Calle Jarnkrok to battle it out on that final line. Now locked up for the next six years after this one, Turris should provide stability for the franchise up the middle. He had an impressive year last year, putting up 27 goals and 28 assists for 55 points. So far in 11 games this year, Turris has three goals and nine points.
As for the Avalanche, it looks as if Sakic got exactly what he was hoping for as the team got a large haul for Duchene. The key to the trade was Girard, an offensively-gifted defenseman, who still needs to work on his defense. Sometimes compared to Will Butcher, who the team lost to New Jersey this offseason, he should help stabilize their defense. The 19-year-old blueliner made the Nashville team out of training camp, but has still only played five games with Nashville, which will force Colorado to decide whether to keep him with their team and burn his first year of his entry-level deal or send him back to his junior team and not get him back until his season is over. The Predators second-round pick in 2016 has been impressive on a team loaded with quality defenseman, but has found himself watching games from the press box lately. An elite skater with excellent passing skills, Girard should be a key member of the team’s defense along with 2017 first-rounder Cale Makar.
Kamenev, the Predators’ 2014 second-round pick, has been playing with the Milwaukee Admirals this year and has put up solid numbers with three goals and five assists in nine games so far. Last year, the 21-year-old prospect put up 21 goals and 30 assists for Milwaukee. A solid skater with excellent hands and size (6-foot-2), he could easily fit on one of the team’s lower lines to start off.
Ottawa also moved one of their top prospects. Already loaded with Colin White, Logan Brown and Filip Chlapik, the team felt comfortable trading Bowers, their 2017 first-rounder. Picked 28th overall, the 18-year-old center is currently playing for Boston University and has four goals and two assists in 10 games for the Hockey East team. Ottawa also got a break in sending Hammond to Colorado. The 29-year-old former backup goaltender lost his job to Mike Condon last season and was eventually put on waivers and sent to Belleville. Not long after, Hammond suffered a hip injury that required surgery. He will likely be sent to San Antonio, providing goaltending insurance for the Avalanche. It frees up logjam of goalies the team has in Belleville as the team already has 31-year-old Daniel Taylor as the two veterans are holding up the team’s young goalies.
Colorado also will get two extra picks in a strong 2018 draft and now will have two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a third-round pick. The extra third-rounder will have to wait until 2019.
Major Three-Way Trade Falls Through
As TSN’s Darren Dreger artfully puts it, “things get complicated when big trades don’t go down.” It’s a rare occurrence in hockey that substantial details regarding a would-be deal are leaked, but such was the case yesterday. Late last night, Dreger reported that a massive three-team deal between the Colorado Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, and Nashville Predators had fallen through. Now, as Dreger says, teams are in “damage control” today as they try to clean up the mess that a rumored trade of this magnitude.
The specifics of the deal are allegedly this: Matt Duchene, the topic of trade rumors for the last year, would have gone to Ottawa. Kyle Turris, who the Senators have struggled to re-sign to their perceived fair value before he hits free agency this summer, would have gone to Nashville (probably with some additional considerations). Presumably, the bulk of the return headed to Colorado would then have come from the Predators. Some are speculating that one of Nashville’s “big four”, Mattias Ekholm, may have been involved in the deal, but considering that Avalanche GM Joe Sakic was the one who reportedly nixed the deal, unhappy with his return, it seems unlikely that Ekholm was part of the final offer.
So what now? It’s long been known that a) Duchene does not want to be in Colorado and is likely to be moved eventually and b) that Senators GM Pierre Dorion has taken a liking to Duchene and has been working to acquire him since this summer. Even without Nashville as part of the deal, this is a trade that can get done with a meeting of the minds. Ottawa has intriguing prospects like Thomas Chabot, Logan Brown, Colin White, and Filip Chlapik that have to interest a rebuilding Colorado squad, while roster players like Cody Ceci and Jean-Gabriel Pageau will inevitably enter the conversation as well. In the meantime though, these trade rumors will make the prospect of re-signing Turris at all, never mind below market value, a tough task for Dorion. Duchene deal or not, Turris’ days seem numbered in Ottawa.
Vadim Shipachyov’s Representatives Given Permission To Pursue Trade
The Golden Knights have given permission for Vadim Shipachyov’s representatives to pursue a trade for the center, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link). However, they have yet to find the right fit for a deal. TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (via Twitter) that the permission was granted Tuesday morning.
Shipachyov was the top free agent signing for Vegas as he inked a two-year, $9MM contract back in May. He was coming off of a dominant season with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL where he finished second on the team in scoring (third in the league) with 26 goals and 50 assists in 50 games (plus 16 points in 15 postseason contests). As a result, many expected him to be the top line center to start the season.
However, that has not been the case. Shipachyov was among the players who fell victim to a numbers game when it came to waiver exemption. In an effort to keep as much talent as possible without risking running players through waivers, the 30-year-old was sent to Chicago of the AHL to start the season (along with winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Shea Theodore). That has allowed them to keep nine defensemen on the active roster and GM George McPhee is believed to be seeking a trade for one of his surplus defenders (including Griffin Reinhart, Brad Hunt, and Jon Merrill) but nothing has come to fruition just yet.
Shipachyov was told he didn’t have to report to the minors and wound up being recalled back on October 14th as injuries started to strike. He got into three games with the Golden Knights, recording a goal but he averaged just 10:35 per night in ice time. The team had to make a roster move yesterday to activate Jonathan Marchessault off IR and it was Shipachyov who lost his spot as he was sent back to the minors.
Shipachyov had interest from NHL teams dating back to two years ago but he was under contract in Russia through 2016-17 so he wasn’t able to make the jump initially. However, teams were hesitant to commit multiple years to him which played a role in him choosing to go to Vegas in the first place. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels notes (Twitter link) that Montreal (who had interest in the past on a one-year deal) was contacted but they are not interested in pursuing him now. With just three NHL regular season games plus four preseason contests under his belt though, he hasn’t really had the opportunity to showcase himself enough to the point where another team might be more confident to take a chance on him.
With his agent having less than 48 hours to secure a possible trade partner, there’s still plenty of time to get something done. In the meantime, it will be worth watching to see if Shipachyov reports to the AHL’s Wolves this time around. If he doesn’t, the Golden Knights will be able to suspend him without pay if they so desire. With the trade market not being particularly robust at this time, his name is likely to come up in plenty of speculation in the days to come.
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Derek Forbort Signs Extension With Los Angeles Kings
In the wake of the Los Angeles Kings’ bad news on Jeff Carter, the team has something else to cheer up their fans. Derek Forbort has signed a two-year contract extension that will pay him an average of $2.525MM per season.
Forbort has quickly become a fan favorite in Los Angeles, as he made the jump right from the minor leagues to Drew Doughty‘s left side. After playing in 14 games for the Kings in 2014-15, Forbort suited up for all 82 last year and averaged over 20 minutes a night. This year he’s back for even more, playing sidekick to Doughty and being relied on as the team’s #1 penalty killer. The 25-year old was a long time coming for the Kings, who drafted him in the first round in 2010.
His first stop was at the University of North Dakota, where he was part of their NHL factory that churns out professionals every year. He spent three seasons with the Fighting Hawks, while also skating key minutes for Team USA in the World Juniors in two consecutive years. Forbort began to hone his simple two-way style then, and made an immediate impact for the Manchester Monarchs upon turning pro. He helped lead the team to a Calder Cup championship in 2015, before making his NHL debut the next season.
Recently there has been speculation that the Kings could deal one of their other defensemen—Jake Muzzin or Alec Martinez in particular—for scoring help. That ability comes directly because of the quick transition Forbort has made to their top pairing, and his ability to play in all situations. While the team continues to lose offensive pieces to injury, their defense remains rock-solid. The Kings have allowed just 10 goals all season, easily the fewest in the entire league.
Forbort is in the final season of his two-year two-way deal he signed in the summer of 2016, just 14 games into his NHL career. Over that span it has been one of the most valuable deals in the league, paying him just $650K at the NHL level each season. Importantly, the new contract will take him to free agency in the summer of 2020 at the age of 28, when he can really cash in with a long-term deal. While there will likely be debate over how much of his success is directly tied to Doughty, he has positioned himself in a strong negotiating position for unrestricted free agency.
The Kings, on that same note likely didn’t want to commit to Forbort long-term on an expensive contract when they have Doughty’s own deal to worry about. Doughty will hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2019, and if the Kings intend on keeping him they’ll have to give him one of the biggest contracts in the league. The 27-year old is coming off a Norris Trophy win in 2016 and is generally regarded as one of the best all-around defensemen in the NHL.
Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider first reported the deal on Twitter.
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Michael Matheson Signs Long-Term Extension With Florida
5:53 PM: It’s a done deal. Less than an hour after Friedman’s report, TSN’s Bob McKenzie has confirmed that Matheson and the Panthers have come to terms on an eight-year, $39MM contract extension. The deal, worth $4.875MM per year, would make Matheson the fifth-highest paid player for Florida and a top-fifty paid defenseman in the league if the 2018-19 season were underway. The extension puts Matheson in the same salary zone as players like Sami Vatanen, Justin Faulk, and Morgan Rielly.
The contract breaks down as follows, per CapFriendly:
2018-19: $3MM salary, $500K signing bonus
2019-20: $3.5MM salary
2020-21: $3.5MM salary
2021-22: $5MM salary
2022-23: $4MM salary
2023-24: $4MM salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2024-25: $4MM salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2025-26: $4.5MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
5:15 PM: According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, the Florida Panthers are working toward an eight-year extension in the neighborhood of $40MM with one of their defenseman. Keep in mind Aaron Ekblad already signed an extension last year and 2017-18 marks the first season of his eight-year, $60MM, while Keith Yandle is already on to year two of his seven-year, $44.5MM free agent contract from last summer. No, the star Florida defenseman that Friedman is reporting on is… Michael Matheson?
To be fair, Matheson did play in 81 games with the Panthers last season and led the team in even-strength ice time on ice. However, those 81 games were only good enough to be tied for second among Florida defenseman and he ranked third in overall average time on ice. Matheson scored 17 points, tied for fourth among Panthers’ blue liners, and his 69 hits was fifth among that group. Matheson led the team with 118 blocked shots, but that mark put him only 70th in the NHL. This was all while the Panthers endured a disappointing season and missed the playoffs after winning the Atlantic Division the year before. Matheson is a solid defenseman, but he didn’t really excel at anything in particular in 2016-17 and didn’t necessarily help the team win. When it comes to a long-term extension though, consistency is the key and Matheson has been this good for a long time, right? Except, last year was his rookie season. Matheson has been a name in hockey for years now – a first-round pick in 2012 and a prolific career at powerhouse Boston College – but in reality he has just 84 NHL games under his belt and is just one year removed from a season spent almost entirely in the AHL.
So, why is GM Dale Tallon reportedly throwing this kind of money at him? Why could Matheson soon be paid more and for longer than the likes of Roman Josi and John Klingberg after just one alright NHL season? It could be that Panthers, who admittedly have seen more of Matheson than anyone else, see something more from the 23-year-old. Of course, it could also be, that after trading away Jason Demers, this extension is the result of some panic setting in. Ekblad is coming off a down season with some lingering injury concerns, Yandle is on the wrong side of 30, and Mark Pysyk and Alex Petrovic tend to be one-dimensional players. With Ekblad, Pysyk, and Petrovic all young, right-handed rearguards, that side of the defense could be set for the long haul, even if there are some concerns. However, on the left side, Matheson and Yandle are the only two established NHLers on the roster with nearly no high-end defensive prospects in the system. It seems likely that Florida sees Matheson as a worthy gamble because he is all they have to gamble on. Is that worth upwards of $40MM? Maybe not, but at least waiting until later in the season to gauge Matheson’s development could help to alleviate some of the risk. (Update: They didn’t.)
Ducks Sign Josh Manson To A Four-Year Extension
The Ducks have locked up a key defender as Josh Manson has inked a four-year extension, the blueliner announced via the team’s Twitter account. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the contract will carry a cap hit of $4.1MM. The deal will begin in the 2018-19 campaign; he will earn $825K this season and would have been a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in July.
Manson has been with Anaheim since they drafted him in the sixth round (160th overall) back in 2011. Last season, he played in all 82 games with the Ducks, tallying a career-high 17 points (5-12-17) while averaging 18:38 of ice time per night. He also suited up in 17 postseason contests, posting three assists while seeing his ATOI increase to 20:33 per game.
With injuries to Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm to start the season, the Ducks will be asking Manson to take on a bigger role for the time being before settling into a fourth or fifth defender role once those two return to the lineup.
This contract now has Anaheim’s core of blueliners (including Vatanen, Lindholm, and Cam Fowler) locked up through at least the 2019-20 season. However, with now just 13 players under contract for 2018-19, GM Bob Murray will still have a lot of work to do and not a lot of money as they already have more than $60MM committed for next season. Most of their players with expiring contracts are slated to become unrestricted free agents but winger Nick Ritchie is another notable RFA who could be an extension candidate in the weeks to come.
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Winnipeg Jets Sign Nikolaj Ehlers To Seven-Year Extension
The Winnipeg Jets have announced a seven-year, $42MM extension for forward Nikolaj Ehlers. Ehlers is entering the final year of his entry-level contract, and will see his average annual salary jump to $6MM per season starting in 2018-19. That number will make him the second-highest paid forward on the Jets, behind just Mark Scheifele who earns $6.125MM per season.
Ehlers was selected ninth-overall by the Jets in 2014, and after another outstanding year in the QMJHL—he scored 132 points in just 65 games—jumped right to the NHL and never looked back. Last year as a sophomore he found chemistry with Scheifele and Patrik Laine as one of the best lines in the NHL (when they were together) and registered 64 points. The impressive part is Ehlers looks to have even more offensive upside, and going into the season as a 21-year old there are high expectations.
Interestingly, this $6MM price tag is quite reasonable for a player so young and dynamic. He’ll instantly be compared to the other big names from the 2014 draft, including Leon Draisaitl ($8.5MM per season), Aaron Ekblad ($7.5MM) and David Pastrnak ($6.67MM) all who outpace him easily in terms of salary. While Ehlers may not have quite the career-highs of Draisaitl and Pastrnak at this point, he is certainly capable of keeping up with them offensively. This will also have an impact on a couple of other 2014 picks in William Nylander and Dylan Larkin, both of whom are in their final ELC years and will be looking for big raises at some point.
Still, for the Jets this fits nicely into their salary structure. Earlier this offseason they extended Bryan Little for six years at a reasonable number but they still have plenty of big contracts to come. Laine will be eligible for an extension next summer, and Jacob Trouba will be a restricted free agent for the second time. Trouba held out the first time looking for a better role on the team, but has since proved that he should be treated as a top-tier defenseman in the league. Things might get tight, but even with a first line that can compete with nearly anyone in the league, they’re generally paying below market value.
For Ehlers, this is a strong vote of confidence in his ability going forward. The Jets have obviously liked what they’ve seen since taking him so high, and why not. Two of the players taken ahead of him haven’t even made the NHL, while no one taken after (minus Pastrnak) has scored more. The Jets, while still waiting for that first franchise playoff win—they were swept in the first round both appearances—are clearly an up-and-coming team that will be hard to deal with in the coming years. If they can fix a goaltending issue that has plagued them since their days in Atlanta, perhaps this is the year they take a run. If not, they still have a lengthy run watching Scheifele, Laine and Ehlers light up opponents (even if it does happen on different lines at times).
Jamie Thomas of JetsTV was first to break the news.
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