*Photo from The Athletic*
Another player is sticking in Florida for a while to come. The Tampa Bay Lightning and LW Brandon Hagel have agreed to an 8 year, $52 million contract extension, according to an announcement by the team on Tuesday.
The contract begins in the 2024-2025 season and carries a $6.5 million AAV. He'll receive $17.68 million of his $52 million in signing bonuses over the 8 years. He has a full no trade clause for the 3rd and 4th years of the deal and a modified no trade clause for the final 4 years in the form of a 16 team no trade list.
Entering the 2023-2024 season, Hagel will play out the final year of a 3 year, $4.5 million contract signed with the Chicago Blackhawks prior to the 2021-2022 season. That contract has a $1.5 million cap hit for the upcoming season.
Hagel said of signing a new contract that "You'd be crazy if you said you never thought about the deal during the year. I'm grateful we were able to get it done now. Now we can move on and worry about winning and getting the team to the next level. I felt comfortable. I love the guys here. I love the core that they have for the future. I want to jump on that core. I want to win a lot and this is the place to do it. And I'm living in Tampa, so I can't complain."
Last season was a productive one for Hagel, his first full year with the Lightning. He put up 30 goals and 34 assists for 64 points, averaging 18:39 of ice time with a +23 rating in 81 regular season games. He added one goal and 4 assists in 6 playoff games.
Across 3 full seasons and one game of a 4th, Hagel has played for the Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks in his career. He has racked up 64 goals and 68 assists for 132 points, posting a -2 rating while averaging 16:38 of ice time in 211 regular season games. Hagel also has 3 goals and 8 assists in 29 playoff games.
Hagel said of the Lightning that "We have a winning culture here and want to keep it that way. A lot of those guys that are locked up, have Stanley Cups, they have rings. I'm still going to learn from those guys. Those guys have done it at the next level, they won Stanley Cups two straight years. There are guys on our core that I want to learn from and they will make me a better hockey player. I'm just grateful I get to play the next eight years, I guess nine years, with these guys."
A former 6th round pick in the 2016 NHL draft, Hagel set career highs in goals, assists, games played, and average ice time in his first full season with the Lightning. At the 2021-2022 trade deadline, Hagel was traded to the Lightning for two first round picks, Taylor Raddysh, and Boris Katchouk.
Comments
Post a Comment