That's a lot of money to pay a 35 year old for another 4 years.
They could have held on to Sergachev. Unless Tampa knows he won't recover back to his pre-injury levels.
Really liked Sergachev and he deserves mad props for rehabbing as hard as he did to come back to play in Round 1 after the injury he suffered. That was incredible work ethic and dedication to the team.
However, Sergachev's ceiling was never on par with Hedman, even 34 year old Hedman.
And BriseBois made a mistake signing him to that contract extension AAV couple of years ago. He is overpaid and that led to needing to disappear his salary. Which is unfortunate.
McDonagh returning will help Hedman quite a bit, and it will be intriguing to see how Moser fits in and takes on defensive responsibility. Hopefully some of the younger guys take steps forward as well.
It will also be interesting to see Hedman wear the C - he's a long time part of the team leadership group, but now he will be fully front and center in front of the media. McDonagh should regain the alternate with Kucherov.