The Tampa Bay Lightning have secured a major piece of their blue line for the long term, signing defenseman JJ Moser to an eight-year, $54 million contract extension with an average annual value of $6.75 million. The deal, which the team announced on Saturday, coming out of the holiday break before their matchup against the Florida Panthers, will take effect beginning with the 2026–27 NHL season, keeping Moser under contract through the 2033–34 campaign. The extension replaces the final year of his current two-year bridge contract, which carried a $3.375 million cap hit, and prevents him from reaching restricted free agency with arbitration rights.
The extension positions Moser as Tampa Bay's second-highest-paid defenseman and sixth-highest-paid player overall. His $6.75 million cap hit represents 6.49 percent of the salary cap at the start of the deal, declining to 5.94 percent in the second year. With Moser signed, the Lightning now have a long-term defensive core that includes Victor Hedman ($8 million through 2028–29), Ryan McDonagh (under contract through 2028–29), and Erik Cernak ($5.2 million through 2030–31).
Originally selected 60th overall by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2021 NHL Draft, the Biel, Switzerland native has emerged as one of Tampa Bay's most dependable defensemen. So far this season, he has appeared in 34 games, producing three goals and nine assists for 12 points while averaging a team-high 21:43 of ice time. His workload leads all the Lightning skaters, and he has also played in 34 of the team’s first 36 games. He ranks first among Tampa Bay defensemen in games played, average ice time, takeaways (14), and blocked shots (43, tied), while sitting near the top in points and assists.
The numbers only tell part of the story; the 25-year-old brings way more than scoring. He leads the Lightning with a plus-24 rating, which ranks third among all NHL defensemen and sixth among all skaters. He’s been elite on the defensive side, leading the team’s defensemen with a 57.8% Corsi For at even strength and a 94.6% on-ice save percentage. According to MoneyPuck, Moser leads all NHL defensemen with at least 200 minutes played in on-ice Goals For percentage at 73.8 percent. His regularized adjusted expected goals against at five-on-five ranks fourth among NHL defensemen this season.
Since the Utah Mammoth acquired him in June 2024 as part of the trade that sent Mikhail Sergachev out of Tampa Bay, Moser has played 88 regular-season games with Tampa Bay, picking up five goals, 26 points, and a plus-44 rating. That plus-minus figure is tied for the fourth-highest among all NHL defensemen over that span. Throughout his NHL career with the Lightning and Arizona, Moser has played 293 games, recording 21 goals, 98 points, and a plus-17 rating while averaging more than 20 minutes per game.
