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Report: Lecavalier Signs 11-Year Extension
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Published: July 12, 2008
Vinny Lecavalier's hockey career will end where it began - in a Lightning uniform.
Lecavalier signed an 11-year contract extension worth $85 million, the details of which surfaced on Saturday. The deal, which averages $7.72 million per season as the salary cap hit, was signed on Friday and submitted to the league office. The extension will kick in at the start of the 2009-10 season and carry through the end of the 2019-20 season, just before Lecavalier's 40th birthday.
The deal will officially be announced on Tuesday during a scheduled news conference that will be followed by a town hall meeting with ownership, Coach Barry Melrose and Lecavalier.
"This is a truly exciting day for our franchise and great news for our team," Lightning owner Oren Koules said. "We have worked hard with Vinny and explained to him our plans to win multiple Stanley Cups and be a competitive team for years to come, and he sees what we want to do."
Lecavalier did not return a message seeking comment.
According to TSN television in Canada, the deal will pay Lecavalier $10 million per season in salary and bonuses for the first six seasons, before dropping to $8.5 million in 2016-2017, $4 million in 2017-2018, $1.5 million in 2018-2019 and $1 million in 2019-2020. The front-loaded deal allows for a more friendly salary cap number for the length of the contract.
Lecavalier, 28, has spent the first 10 years of his career with the franchise that drafted him first overall in 1998. He is the franchise's all-time leader in goals, points and games played. He was a key member of the 2004 Stanley Cup championship team and won the Rocket Richard Trophy in 2007 after leading the league with 52 goals. Lecavalier is the only player in franchise history to record consecutive 40-goal, 90-point seasons.
"Vinny and his agent, Kent Hughes ... we've kept them abreast of everything that we are doing to be a competitive team, and by signing this contract, they agree with everything," Koules said. "Vinny is a Hall of Fame hockey player."
One of the priorities for Koules and Len Barrie when they assumed control of the team was to lock up Lecavalier to a long-term contract that would make him a member of the Lightning for life. Koules also has stated his desire to make Lecavalier a member of the organization after his playing days are over, possibly in a front-office position.
"I am excited to see Vinny in Tampa on Tuesday. I'm excited for our team," Barrie said.
Reports surfaced earlier this month that Lecavalier had agreed to the terms of a nine-year contract worth $77 million that proved to be premature, something Tampa Bay vice president of hockey operations Brian Lawton said on Thursday.
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