Anze Kopitar agrees to eight-year contract extension with Los Angeles Kings
The long negotiation is over. Anze Kopitar has finalized an eight-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Kings.
The deal is worth $80 million, an NHL source confirmed with ESPN.com on Saturday, and includes a $9 million bonus to be paid July 1 and another $9 million bonus on July 1, 2017. There is a full no-movement clause in the first four years of the contract, a source said, and a modified no-trade clause after that.
The contract, linking Kopitar to the Kings through 2023-24, wraps up a negotiation that both sides had hoped would get done in the summer and eliminates one of the most high-profile potential unrestricted free agents from the upcoming free-agent class.
The deal puts Kopitar in line financially with Chicago Blackhawks stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who signed matching eight-year contracts worth $10.5 million per season in 2014.
Kopitar, like Toews, is a franchise center who was the engine behind multiple Stanley Cups for his team. In 70 career playoff games, the 28-year-old Slovenia native has 60 points. He has one of the most well-rounded defensive games in the league, finishing third in the Selke Trophy race last season.
The deal is not without risk, kicking in next season during a time in which the NHL salary cap is stagnating in large part because of a dropping Canadian dollar. The Kings also have a lot of salary on the books, with long-term deals locked in with aging veterans Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter and Marian Gaborik.
In 725 career games, the No. 11 overall pick in 2005 has 645 career points.
The deal is worth $80 million, an NHL source confirmed with ESPN.com on Saturday, and includes a $9 million bonus to be paid July 1 and another $9 million bonus on July 1, 2017. There is a full no-movement clause in the first four years of the contract, a source said, and a modified no-trade clause after that.
The contract, linking Kopitar to the Kings through 2023-24, wraps up a negotiation that both sides had hoped would get done in the summer and eliminates one of the most high-profile potential unrestricted free agents from the upcoming free-agent class.
The deal puts Kopitar in line financially with Chicago Blackhawks stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who signed matching eight-year contracts worth $10.5 million per season in 2014.
Kopitar, like Toews, is a franchise center who was the engine behind multiple Stanley Cups for his team. In 70 career playoff games, the 28-year-old Slovenia native has 60 points. He has one of the most well-rounded defensive games in the league, finishing third in the Selke Trophy race last season.
The deal is not without risk, kicking in next season during a time in which the NHL salary cap is stagnating in large part because of a dropping Canadian dollar. The Kings also have a lot of salary on the books, with long-term deals locked in with aging veterans Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter and Marian Gaborik.
In 725 career games, the No. 11 overall pick in 2005 has 645 career points.