NHL teams rush to sign players to eight-year contracts before the new CBA deadline

“Ryan is a young and talented player who is still years away from entering his prime, and we believe he has tremendous potential to continue growing into an important player for our organization,” general manager Chris Patrick said in announcing Leonard’s contract. “While reaching his full potential will take time, we have been impressed with his work ethic and the way he continues to develop his game. We are confident in Ryan’s ability to continue improving as a hockey player, and we believe this agreement provides him with the opportunity to grow and develop within our organization, while giving us the ability to keep a talented young player in our lineup for years to come.”

Leonard, a 21-year-old winger, heads into his second full NHL season after breaking in during the spring of 2025. The contract cemented his place as part of the Capitals’ young, post-Alex Ovechkin core, which is expected to also include brothers Ilya and Aliaksei Protas.

Washington forward Justin Sourdif also got an eight-year extension before the deadline: $50.8 million, for an annual cap hit of $6.35 million. Sourdif will be 25 when it goes into effect.

“Justin is a good young forward who has continued to develop steadily throughout his career,” Patrick said. “He is versatile and demonstrated his ability to play an important forward role for our team whenever the opportunity arose last season. … We believe he has a bright future ahead of him and are confident that he will continue to make valuable contributions to our organization in the coming years.”

Ottawa signed Drake Batherson for $86 million over eight years, which is the most lucrative contract in Senators history. The previous record was Tim Stützle’s eight-year, $66.8 million extension from September 2022.

Batherson will count $10.75 million against the salary cap starting in 2027, surpassing Stützle’s $8.35 million. He’ll be 29 at that point.

“He was drafted and developed by our organization and has shown a commitment to wanting to be in Ottawa long term,” GM Steve Staios said of Batherson. “We view him as a key part of our core group.”

Batherson set career highs in scoring each of the past seven seasons, topping out at 71 last year. He was just the second player in league history to do that seven times in a row, joining Vic Stasiuk from 1953-54 to ’59-60 with Detroit.

Even with the cap going up, players want long-term security

Since the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association came to an agreement on this CBA in June 2025, 33 players signed eight-year contracts. Twelve of those came in the past three months, including Colorado’s Cale Makar setting the record for the most money at $163.2 million.

After being flat or nearly flat coming out of the pandemic, the salary cap is the middle of a series of record increases, now that revenues caught up and are skyrocketing. The cap went from $95.5 million last season to $104 million this season and will be $113.5 million in 2027-28, when most of these new contracts go into effect.

Philadelphia signing Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet in July that made him the highest-paid player in the sport at $18 million a year — which the Ducks matched to keep him — led to a spike in salaries this summer.

Vegas centre Jack Eichel, who is now making $13.5 million on his long-term contract signed last October, said agent Pat Brisson told him about what was coming and they had talks with NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and others at the union and decided to go the full eight years anyway.

“It’s an incredible deal for me and my family, and we’re super grateful for the organization and the city believing in us,” Eichel said last week. “There’s no signer’s remorse. Yeah, I’m a happy guy.”

Eichel led the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup in 2023. He and fellow standouts such as Makar, Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, and Florida teammates Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad are proven commodities.

Many of the young players getting eight-year deals this off-season were team gambles of varying degrees.

As recently as Monday, Buffalo signed 22-year-old centre Noah Ostlund for $52.8 million, banking on his potential. Ostlund has played in just 71 games in the league thus far.

Pittsburgh signed Ville Koivunen for $32 million over eight years in August. He has 14 points in 42 career games.

New Jersey signed recently acquired forward Luke Evangelista to a five-year extension worth $36.25 million, getting the deal registered not long before midnight Tuesday. The contract includes a percentage of money paid in signing bonuses that would not have been allowed under the new CBA.

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

NHL teams rush to sign players to eight-year contracts before the new CBA deadline

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