Kris Letang's contract status was a major question mark for the Pittsburgh Penguins heading into the NHL offseason. Between Letang and teammate Evgeni Malkin, it seemed like a strong bet the Penguins would part ways with one of their longtime veterans, if not both. However, the Penguins locked up Kris Letang last week, signing the defender to a six-year contract extension. The deal carries a $6.1 million cap hit.
Below, we take a look at how the contract breaks down for the Penguins.
The Player
Letang has spent his entire career with the Penguins to this point. He's played 15 seasons with the team, winning three Stanley Cups.
While the defenseman is now 35 years old, he still plays a huge role for Pittsburgh. He consistently leads the team in ice time while taking on tough matchups and this past season, he ranked fourth in the NHL in terms of minutes per game. Kris Letang has also managed to stay healthy over the last few years too.
The defenseman also still scored 10 goals and 68 points in 78 games, making him one of the league's highest producing defenders. Despite his age, his production has actually remained very consistent from year to year.
To this point, Letang has managed to completely hold off a decline and remains Pittsburgh's top defenseman by far.
The Term
While Letang is extremely important to the team though, a six-year term is pretty rough. At 35 years old, it's incredibly unlikely that we see the defenseman get through the entire contract without a major drop-off in performance. It'll really just come down to how soon that decline ends up coming.
I think the hope is probably that the Penguins get through half the contract with Letang's play remaining at a similar level. That's even maybe wishful thinking though, as he'll be entering his late 30s by then.
I think the term that would've brought the most value here was probably around three or four years. That said, it's a trade off. If Kris Letang is brought back on a four-year deal, his cap hit is coming in a lot higher than it did. The point of re-signing Letang is to continue trying to compete and an unmanageable cap hit would've hurt the team's ability to do so.
Even in terms of sacrificing term for a lower cap hit though, the length of the deal remains the obvious issue.
The Cap Hit
On the other hand, getting Letang at a $6.1 million cap hit is an absolute steal. He remains one of the NHL's better defensemen and should provide much more value than his cap hit would suggest. If he hit free agency and took a shorter deal for a maximum cap hit, teams likely would've been lining up to pay him over $8 million per year or even more.
It's clear that the Penguins value competing right now, in the final years with the likes of Letang, Malkin and Sidney Crosby. As a result, getting a low cap hit was the most important factor and it was probably viewed as worthwhile to make it a longer contract to get Letang at just $6.1 million per year.
At this point, the Penguins actually have several players locked up at very reasonable cap hits. Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and now recently, Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell are all on the payroll at pretty decent prices. With Letang at such a low number as well, Pittsburgh retains some flexibility to make sure the team is competitive over the next year or two.
The No-Move Clause
The deal isn't just as simple as the cap hit and term, though. Kris Letang also has a full no-movement clause for the first four years of the deal. In the final two years, that becomes a 10-team no-trade list.
This trade protection does look pretty significant on the surface but breaking it down, it's not quite so bad. The Penguins are clearly counting on Letang providing great value in the first three or four years of the deal. Given the contracts they've handed out to the players mentioned above, that's probably their window to compete. As a result, the Penguins won't be looking to move the defenseman anyways, as the main goal is to compete.
In the final two years though, that protection really isn't all that solid. With just a 10-team no-trade list at that point, the Penguins should be able to work out a deal if they needed to do so.
So the Penguins clearly gave up more term here in order to get a lower cap hit. It makes sense, with the team looking for a final few playoff runs in the Crosby era.
Kris Letang should provide excellent value for the $6.1 million in the short-term. While the deal could hurt in the last couple years, that's likely past Pittsburgh's timeline to compete anyways. As a result, this is a pretty decent deal.
Grade: B+
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