The Washington Capitals have re-signed winger Tom Wilson to a seven-year, $45.5MM extension, per a team announcement. The contract will kick in for the 2024-25 campaign and run through 2030-31, carrying a $6.5MM cap hit.
CapFriendly reports the full breakdown of Wilson’s deal, which carries a 15-team no-trade clause until 2027-28 and a ten-team no-trade clause for the remainder:
2024-25: $4MM salary, $5MM signing bonus
2025-26: $4.5MM salary, $3MM signing bonus
2026-27: $3.625MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2027-28: $4.3MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2028-29: $4.275MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2029-30: $900K salary, $4.5MM signing bonus
2030-31: $900K salary, $4.5MM signing bonus
Signing a long-term deal puts Wilson in line to become one of the longest-tenured players in Washington’s history. Drafted 16th overall in 2012, the 29-year-old already has ten full seasons with Washington under his belt, a tenure that includes the franchise’s only Stanley Cup win in 2018.
It was after lifting the Stanley Cup that Wilson transformed into the player we know him as today, though. Since their victory, he’s become a fixture in the team’s top six, often playing the opposite wing on Alex Ovechkin’s line. He’s scored 98 goals in 289 games since 2018-19, the third-most of any Capital during that time behind Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie. Now routinely averaging top-six minutes at over 17 minutes a game, Wilson is giving the Capitals his best blend of goal-scoring while dialing his trademark physicality down to an acceptable level in his prime. In fact, he’s recorded under 100 penalty minutes for four straight seasons after finishing over the century mark six times to begin his career.
Last season was a tough one for Wilson, though, as it was for many of his teammates, with Washington missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014. His offensive pace was in line with what we’ve come to expect, but he played in just 33 games thanks to a knee injury that cost him the first half of the season. Still, he managed 13 goals and nine assists for 22 points after his return.
Wilson was entering the final season of a six-year, $31MM contract signed after Washington’s Cup win in 2018 – one that was heavily criticized at the time. It was viewed as a risky bet on Wilson’s potential rather than what he’d displayed up until that point. Although they were fair points then, Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan was quickly proven right – Wilson’s scored at least 20 goals in every season in which he’s been fully healthy since the deal kicked in. His new long-term extension will keep him in a Capitals jersey until age 37 and could very well be the last deal he ever signs.
That being said, Wilson’s style of play does not lend itself to longevity. Expecting him to be able to perform at his cap hit by the end of this contract is illogical, to say the least. There’s a strong chance his $6.5MM cap hit ends up on LTIR before the deal runs out. As CapFriendly notes, the lower salary with high signing bonuses in the final seasons of the deal also makes Wilson’s contract much harder to buy out should Washington need to go that route.
For now, CapFriendly projects Washington with $15.65MM in cap space for 2024-25, assuming an Upper Limit of 2024-25. They’ll have eight roster spots to fill with that money, though, a tough ask. It’s a rather tough financial position for a team teetering on the edge of competitiveness in Ovechkin’s twilight years.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
And probably a handshake agreement to wear the C once OV retires
That’s a no brainer
Great player and deserves to get paid but oof, that’s a long deal for a 29-year old power forward….
Ouch! Horrible deal. Must have dirt on someone lol
I won’t say that peak Wilson isn’t worth $6.5, but he’s at the age where EVERYONE starts to decline; Brad Marchand’s the only similar player in the last generation who took a leap forward and kept up peak performance from that point. This would merely be a bad deal if Wilson was less banged up, but for a guy who’s only had one healthy season in the last five, this is madness.
@Nha
Not sure what you consider “healthy”. 2018-19 he played in 77% of his team’s games, in the shortened 2019-20 season it was 99%, in 2020-21, another shortened season, it was 84%, in 2021-22 it was 95%.
So he played above 3/4s of his team’s regular season games in every season of the last 5, but last year.
A contract is only bad if it hurts the team. This contract won’t be hurting the team, for several years yet, if it ever does. He’s only getting a relatively small raise. Washington has only two other contracts longer than 3 years (Strome and Kuemper). They’ve got a great deal of flexibility after Ovechkin’s and Carlson’s contracts expire after 3 years.
Can’t say I think this is the greatest contract ever, but most teams have to go too long, with today’s contracts. Some people act like the money is coming out of their own pockets, which is undoubtedly an overreaction.
He does everything. They fear the Willy. Every team wishes to have a guy like him if they don’t have one.
I’d rather not employ someone who plays like he’s trying to kill people.
Yeah dirty player, everyone knows it. In another era he would never have played this long
7 Years for a 29 yr old power forward is a bad idea. I don’t see this aging well
He will be 30-31 when this deal kicks in, that just makes it so much worse. This guy is going to end up a 6.5 million 4th liner before the midway point of this deal.