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BREAKING: Senators Sign Chabot to Eight-Year, $64M Contract Extension |
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The Ottawa Senators announced this morning that they have signed defenceman Thomas Chabot to an eight-year, $64M contract extension.
The general consensus in hockey circles is that this is a great deal for the Senators. Alan from Raw Charge, SB Nation's Tampa Bay Lightning blog, highlighted this point when the deal was announced:
The likelihood that defencemen of Chabot's caliber earn more than $8M per season as we move into the later stages of this contract is incredibly high. The Senators committed to the player with money and term now, and in turn will probably receive so measure of financial benefit down the road.
While there had been some concern within the Senators fan base that the team would struggle to get this deal done, especially with the threat of an offer sheet feeling more 'real' after Montreal extended one this summer, there was plenty of reason for optimism throughout this negotiation. As discussed in previous blogs, the combination of Chabot clearly wanting to be in Ottawa and the Senators having previously shown a willingness to spend in certain spots made getting a contract done feel like a near certainty even with all the noise. The question was: What would the contract look like? Now we know.
There was a time when an $8M average annual value coming out of entry level would have been considered ridiculous, but the game has changed. When you have a chance to lock in elite talent for the long-term, you need to take it. Chabot, quite frankly, drives the bus in Ottawa these days:
The key for Ottawa now is ensuring that they use him in such a way that his potential for continued greatness is maximized. If they do that, it should be easy to get full value out of this contract extension.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart was the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz from 2012 to 2015, and has been the Ottawa Senators writer since September 2019. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.
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