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The Los Angeles Kings announced today that they’ve signed captain Anze Kopitar to a two-year contract extension, which carries a $7 million cap hit.

Kopitar is set to enter the final year of his current contract, and the extension will run from 2024-25 until 2025-26. The center scored 28 goals and 74 points in 82 games this year, marking his highest single-season production (both goals and points) in five years.

HE'S STAYING H👑ME.

We've signed the Captain to a two-year contract extension!

Read more 📰 https://t.co/Hqrpn8mOzx pic.twitter.com/hHrGNcThX2

— LA Kings (@LAKings) July 6, 2023

By extending Kopitar, the Kings have their top three centers locked up until 2026, with Phillip Danault signed until 2027 and Pierre-Luc Dubois now under contract until 2031. Kopitar’s $7M cap hit also represents a $3M per year pay cut, and will kick in at a time in which the salary cap is expected to rise significantly.

I’ll have a longer analysis of the contract out in the coming days on HockeyComparables.com but for a quick note, it’s difficult to argue too much with the deal. It represents reasonable value and comes in somewhat low-risk with a two-year term. That said, the first year of the new contract will only kick in when Kopitar is turning 37 years old and given it’s signed a year out, there’s risk of possible decline before the contract begins. I don’t think this is a huge concern though, given Kopitar’s coming off a huge year and the Kings’ center depth is strong enough to withstand a slight decline from Kopitar at some point in his tenure with the team.

The Kings are certainly better off with Kopitar locked in for the next few years, as they look to contend for a Stanley Cup.


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In smaller news, the Kings also re-signed forwards Samuel Fagemo and Tyler Madden to matching one-year deals, worth $775,000.

Meanwhile, Zack MacEwen, who was acquired by the Kings at the trade deadline but subsequently not qualified, signed a three-year contract with the Ottawa Senators.



QuizMaker

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Kings sign Cam Talbot, Trevor Lewis and others, Korpisalo joins Senators

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