In the middle of free agent frenzy, the San Jose Sharks have locked up two key players to long-term deals according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN. Marc-Edouard Vlasic has signed an eight-year, $56MM extension, while Martin Jones inks a six-year, $34.5MM deal. Both contracts will kick in for the 2018-19 season.
It’s been reported for months that the pair would ink extensions to keep them in San Jose long-term, but both of these deals do come with quite the price tag. For Vlasic, who made it clear he wanted to stay in San Jose for the rest of his career, this contract will take him past his 39th birthday, paying him a whopping $7MM per season. While he’s currently an excellent defender, capable of playing one of the best two-way games in the league, you have to think his decline will begin in the next few years, making the end of that contract look awful.
Even if you get five more seasons of peak Vlasic, that’s still only covering half the extension. In time, the pair of contracts handed out to Vlasic and Brent Burns—who starts an eight-year, $64MM extension this season at age 32—may destroy the salary structure of the Sharks.
Jones’ contract, while expensive in its own right, is much more palatable when looking long-term. The 27-year old goaltender may still face some doubters after just two seasons as a full-time starter, but already will come in behind nine other goaltenders in terms of cap hit for the 2018-19 season (with several others likely signing bigger deals before then).