Early Christmas Gift; Spezza Signs an Extension

Our boy, Jason Spezza has been signed to a contract extension worth $49 million over 7 years. He will receive $8 million for the first five years and then $5 million and $4 million in the last two. He will receive a $4 million salary in the first three years with a $4 million bonus and then a $6 million salary for the next two with a $2 million bonus. His cap hit will be the average at $7 million.

The deal is also rumoured to consist of a No Trade Clause that will kick in his first year of unrestricted free agency although that is not yet confirmed. Negotiations reportedly went very quickly and smoothly between Bryan Murray and Rick Curran. This is good news as the Senators will have Spezza at the peak of his career and won't have to worry about him signing elsewhere from free agency. As iffy as I am about how heavy the price tag is, I think it's interesting to note that the trend seems to be locking in your players to longer-term contracts.

There does come a considerable risk with long-term deals since you never know if the player will maintain their high level of play and there's always the uncertainty of injuries. However, despite injuries, you know what you're going to get with Spezza and there's no danger of him retiring anytime soon and still having his salary counting against the cap.

All in all, it's very good to see Murray actively locking in key pieces to the franchise long-term. I don't really have an updated spreadsheet of the salary outlook for the Senators quite yet, but I do worry where the money to sign Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette will come from. Wade Redden will for sure be gone or come at an extremely hefty discount, and I can imagine a decision on him won't be made until the end of the season, provided he's not shipped out at the deadline.

Either way, the Senators dodged a bullet with the Mississauga native (represent!) as he was due to become a Restricted Free Agent at the end of the season and offer sheets are apparently trendy now. Although seeing Murray cuss out Kevin Lowe would have been hilarious.

^{Cross posted to Scarlett Ice}