The front half of
Andrei Vasilevskiy’s deal went extremely well for the Lightning. The back half might not if last year was any indication. I’m inclined to believe his struggles were injury-related and he can get back on track, but if not … $9.5 million for four more years is a lot of money for a goalie who may no longer be a slam-dunk top-five choice.
The Lightning have two other problem deals in their core with
Anthony Cirelli and
Erik Cernak. Both are still effective players but their price points over seven years look a bit much.
However, the Lightning can afford that luxury thanks to some stellar deals from their top forwards. At $9.5 million,
Nikita Kucherov is obviously vastly underpaid and so too is newly minted
Jake Guentzel, who the model views as an eight-figure winger.
Both deals pale in comparison to
Brandon Hagel’s $6.5 million AAV for eight years. There was some sticker shock when he signed, but Hagel is the real deal: an elite play-driver who scored 75 points last year with limited power-play time. If he starts getting reps on PP1, he’ll be an even bigger steal.