The Ducks and center Mason McTavish have finally reached the finish line in their prolonged contract negotiations. The team announced that they’ve signed McTavish to a six-year contract; Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) it’s worth $7MM per season. GM Pat Verbeek released the following statement:
Mason is a key part of our team, and we’re excited to reach a long-term agreement that reflects his importance to our future. He’s a highly skilled, physical, and competitive player who plays the game the right way. Mason has already made a significant impact at a young age, and we’re confident he’ll continue to grow into a top player as we build toward sustained success.
The 22-year-old was the third overall pick in 2021 and is coming off his best statistical season so far, one that saw him score 22 goals and 30 assists in 76 games while primarily playing on the second line. That was an offensive improvement over his first two NHL campaigns, where he put up 43 and 42 points respectively. Given his draft pedigree and improvement, McTavish was in line for a significant raise and while it took them a while to agree on the terms of such a deal, they’ve finally worked it out.
Both sides had agreed a while back that a long-term pact was preferred. For most young impact centers, those deals have fallen within the $7MM to $8MM range, most of which came in a salary cap environment that was more limited than it is now. On the other hand, it appears that there is a ceiling in place that Verbeek wasn’t willing to go past. Veteran Troy Terry and newcomer Mikael Granlund both make $7MM per season and with Terry’s track record, it might have been hard for Verbeek to justify giving McTavish more than that. Accordingly, it’s probably not a coincidence that McTavish’s AAV checks in exactly at that number.
The trade-off to that is that instead of a maximum-term eight-year agreement (that is still legal for one more year), Anaheim had to settle for just a six-year pact. In doing so, they only pick up an extra two years of team control while McTavish will now be eligible to test unrestricted free agency in the 2031 offseason when he’ll be 28.
Still, even though they didn’t get the maximum commitment, they have someone they feel will be a long-term core piece locked up at what should be a reasonable price tag (assuming he continues to improve) for six years. That’s a more than long enough timeline for Anaheim to get through what they hope will be the final phase of their rebuild and a return to contention. Meanwhile, what happened with these discussions could serve as a look ahead to what could happen next summer when Leo Carlsson, another promising young middleman, will be RFA-eligible for the first time.
With the signing, the Ducks have all of their players under contract for the upcoming season and still have over $13.5MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. If Anaheim under new head coach Joel Quenneville gets off to a hotter start than expected, Verbeek should have plenty of wiggle room to try to add to his roster midseason.
Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images.