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Patrick Sharp signs long-awaited contract extension with Chicago for five years, $29.5 million

Patrick Sharp

Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Sharp celebrates after scoring his goal during the second period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks in Chicago, Sunday, April 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

AP

Chicago’s Patrick Sharp was shaping up to be one of the more intriguing unrestricted free agents next summer if he made it that far. The Blackhawks and GM Stan Bowman were determined to make sure that didn’t happen, however, and have signed their scoring stud to a five-year contract extension.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweets that the deal has a cap hit of $5.9 million per season which works out to a deal worth $29.5 million over the course of the term. The annual amount is good for a $2 million raise on what he’s making this season. It’s a hefty cap hit and payout, but Sharp’s play in Chicago, especially last season has made him invaluable to the franchise.

Sharp has been one of the most encouraging players in Chicago the last few seasons. Since joining Chicago from Philadelphia back in 2006, he’s been the perfect fit with the team and their system. In his time in Chicago, he’s scored 150 goals over five and a half seasons including a career high 36 in 2007-2008 and 34 last season which led the Blackhawks in goals.

While it could be easy for some players to get lost playing alongside guys like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Marian Hossa, Sharp has thrived in Chicago and his play in the playoff in 2010 helped lead the team to the Stanley Cup. Sharp’s signing also means the core of stars in Chicago are all locked up from Toews, Hossa, Kane, Duncan Keith, Dave Bolland, Brent Seabrook, and Niklas Hjalmarsson. The tough part of Bowman’s job now comes in trying to balance the salary cap around all of those players.

Sharp’s presence in Chicago is one that has him as a consistently solid player on the ice. While the Blackhawks dealt with injuries and some inconsistency from other star players, Sharp was a constant threat to score all season long and even parlayed that great play into being named the MVP of the 2011 All-Star Game as well.

Sharp’s deal is going to pay him a lot of scratch and he’ll have to keep his level of production where it has been the last two seasons scoring more than 65 points per season. If he can keep the goal scoring level where it was at last season and mix in the playmaking ability he showed two seasons ago when he had 41 assists, the deal will be perfect for Chicago. In this case, the Blackhawks are paying up for consistent play and keeping a guy that makes them better on a nightly basis.