Key Takeaways
- Jackson Blake signed an eight-year, $45 million extension with the Hurricanes in July, which raised some eyebrows given his limited time at the NHL level.
- However, this could become a common occurrence over the next year as the new Collective Bargaining Agreement kicks in.
- RG spoke with an NHL executive and player agent about why more teams could be signing their own players to lengthy extensions.
Marty Walsh of the NHLPA along with Gary Bettman of the NHL announce a tentative CBA agreement (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
When the Carolina Hurricanes inked 22-year-old forward Jackson Blake to an eight-year, $45 million ($5.2M AAV) contract on July 30, some fans and media alike were surprised at the term and annual salary cap hit. However, with the newly signed extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement set to kick in on September 16, 2026, there could be more teams signing their own players to eight-year contracts this offseason, throughout the coming regular season, and even more so next offseason.
“Teams can’t get that eighth year under the new CBA, so yeah, I think we’ll see more than usual,” an NHL Executive opined to RG Media recently.
Under the new CBA extension rules, teams will only be able to sign their own players for no longer than seven years.
“If the team is hellbent on that extra year for certain players, then they will try and get that done sooner than later, I’d imagine, and some players will get higher than expected AAVs as you saw with Jackson Blake, because the player can say he’s conceding that eighth year despite not having to after the new CBA kicks in,” the NHL executive added.
Jackson only played one NHL game in the first year of his three-year, $2.7 million ($906,000 AAV) entry-level contract, but scored 17 goals and had 17 assists in 80 games this past season, and then three goals and three assists in 15 Stanley Cup Playoffs games.
RG Media also spoke to an NHL player agent on the same topic, and that agent had a similar but a bit different take.
“I think that’s a logical question, but I think it’s exaggerated,” the agent said.
“Are all the teams going to get everything done in a hurry and under the gun? The truth is, for older players, of course, that’s going to be accurate, but for the majority of the league, and more specifically, not an older player, past 30, you make more money by signing shorter-term deals.
So, I actually didn’t even think it was a huge give-back by the Union. I really didn’t. I think in a lot of ways, it helps the players; you get back to the table a year younger. So, I don’t think there are players in the 25-30 years old range, it will affect them at all.”
The agent did concur that if players are willing to do that eighth year and they know how badly the team wants it, then they can use that as leverage and get a better-than-expected AAV.
“I would think if it’s that important to the team, of course,” the agent said.
“I mean, that’s what a negotiation is, right? Determining what’s the most important thing for each side. So, yeah, if they made it clear to me that the eighth year is the most important thing, then yes, my counter is the AAV goes up. That’s gone after September 16, 2026, so of course I’m using that as leverage.”
“I’ve never understood the thing about the term,” said the agent. “If you’ve got a guy getting up there in age, then fine, yes, I get it; but most of these players that are locking up the long-term deals, they’re doing it on their second contract and in their early twenties. For those players, it should be beneficial to get back to the table a year earlier.”
