A Lot Of Money For A Long Time

If there's one thing that NHL general managers should have learned by this point in the salary cap era, it's that long-term, high-priced contracts often come back to bite the team in the rear end. It's not to say that there haven't been good long-term deals signed as those for Crosby and McDavid are looking better and better each and every year. With goaltenders, though, there are a maybe one or two good examples and a pile of bad examples when it comes to big money, maximum term contracts. The jury is now officially out on the Tampa Bay Lightning after they committed eight years at $9.5 million annually to goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Technically, the Lightning signed Vasilevskiy to a contract extension as he'll play one more season at his current $3.5 million annual salary before the big-money deal kicks in. The deal, when it finally starts, will make him the third-highest paid goaltender in the league behind only Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky and Montreal's Carey Price. Needless to say, the Lightning have weighed the odds on their netminder, and they believe the 25 year-old has a lot of good hockey left before age begins to catch up to him.

Vasilevskiy is a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist and a one-time winner, so he carries a little leverage when it comes to his salary demands. Winning the Vezina Trophy is reflective of the work put in by the netminder over the course of a season, and there was no doubt that Andrei Vasilevskiy was the best goaltender for 82 games last season. While he and the Lightning faltered hard in the playoffs, there is no doubt that the Lightning were the best team on ice from October until April with Vasilevskiy backstopping them to an all-time record-tying win total.

When compared to goaltenders around the league, John Gibson's season last year with the Ducks was slightly better for personal statistics despite the terrible team that skated in front of him. Gibson is signed for eight years at $6.4 million per year, and he likely takes a better overall team to the playoffs based on how he played last season. Based on how Vasilevskiy played last season, worrying about making the playoffs should be nothing that Tampa Bay even spends a nanosecond thinking about with their current roster.

Where Gibson has shone, though, there have been others who haven't. New Jersey's Cory Schneider signed a seven-year, $42 million deal in 2015, and his game disappeared sometime in the summer of 2016. Connor Hellebuyck had an incredible season in 2017-18 with the Winnipeg Jets where he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy and, as a result, signed a six-year deal for $6.16 million annually before his game went south in 2018-19. Jonathan Quick's deal with the Los Angeles Kings was for ten years and $58 million, and the Kings can't convince anyone to take that contract off their hands. Clearly, there's some risk in signing young goaltenders to these deals when the body of work they've turned in is rather short.

Where Tampa Bay may benefit if Vasilevskiy falters is in the structure of the deal they made. He is paid $34 million of the $72 million owed in the first three seasons, and has a full no-movement clause until 2025-26. However, when the no-movement clause moves to a modified NMC in the final three seasons of the deal, Vasilevskiy has to provide a list of teams to which he could be dealt. If that were to happen, there are $10 million in bonuses owed over those three seasons while the base salary is just $13 million. Narrowing it even further, the final two seasons of Vasilevskiy's deal could see him traded in the summer of 2027 after his $3 million salary bonus has been paid, leaving the team trading for Vasilevskiy on the hook for a single $3 million bonus payment and just $8 million in salary over those two seasons.

What does it all mean? Well, the Lightning have their stopper signed for the prime years of his career while setting themselves up with an escape route if something goes off the rails with Vasilevskiy. Andrei Vasilevskiy signed a deal that takes him through to age 34 where he'll likely never have to worry about money again, so he got what he wanted out of the deal as well.

The one risk that still exists is the possibility of Vasilevskiy's game falling off sooner than expected like Cory Schneider's did. However, Tampa Bay GM Julien BriseBois feels that this signing only reinforces what he knows about his goaltender.

"Since joining the organization Andrei has shown unmatched work ethic and professionalism both on and off the ice," BriseBois said in a statement. "We look forward to him continuing his career in Tampa Bay for the foreseeable future."

I don't foresee Andrei Vasilevskiy changing anything about his game or his work ethic when it comes to preparation, so there's a lot to be optimistic about when it comes to this signing if one is a fan of the Lightning. As long as Vasilevskiy continues to do what he did so well for the last few seasons, this deal might look like a steal when all is said and done.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!