According to Kevin Weekes of ESPN, the Tampa Bay Lightning are nearing a contract extension with all-star defenseman Victor Hedman. The information comes shortly after the report indicating that Jake Guentzel shall be signing with the group after the staff traded for his signing rights earlier this afternoon. As a result of he’s already signed to a contract in Tampa Bay, Hedman should wait till tomorrow to signal a brand new settlement.
Hedman is ready to wrap up his present eight-year, $63M extension after the 2024-25 NHL season concludes, and would have turn into an unrestricted free agent for the primary time in his profession at 34 years outdated. With a mean annual worth of $7.875M because the begin of the 2017-18 NHL season, there may be an argument to be made that Hedman has been taking part in on a discount of a contract for a while.
Over the lifetime of his present contract, Hedman has appeared in 503 common season video games for the Lightning whereas scoring 91 targets and 427 factors. The Lightning have made the postseason in every year of the deal whereas Hedman has assisted the staff with 17 targets and 80 factors over these seven years. Hedman has additionally received one Norris Trophy, one Conn Smythe Trophy, and two Stanley Cup rings in {hardware}.
The previous second-overall choose can nonetheless be counted on to log heavy minutes on the ice however might even see his workload enhance after the staff parted methods with defenseman Mikhail Sergachev on the second day of the 2024 NHL Draft. Hedman appeared to deal with the workload effective with Sergachev out for a lot of the common season this previous 12 months however it will likely be attention-grabbing to see if he can sustain that fortitude over the lifetime of the anticipated extension.
The total phrases of the deal will possible break tomorrow and it will likely be attention-grabbing to see how lengthy the Lightning go on a Hedman extension. The staff was lately prepared to offer a similarly-aged Steven Stamkos an eight-year settlement to maintain the AAV down in direction of a team-friendly degree.