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Jackets ink Savard to five-year, $21.25M extension

at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on April 11, 2015 in Uniondale, New York.

David Savard

Mike Stobe

The Columbus Blue Jackets managed to make one more major move before the start of training camp.

They’ve announced that David Savard has agreed to a five-year extension. The team has a policy of not disclosing the financial terms, but the contract is worth $21.25 million, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.

Savard still has a season left on his two-year, $2.6 million contract, so the 24-year-old defenseman is now locked in through 2020-21.

“Getting David signed to a contract extension was a priority for us and we are very happy to have reached a long-term deal with him,” said Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen. “He has taken tremendous steps the past two seasons and responded very well to the larger role he played on our blueline last season. We are excited about his future with the Blue Jackets.”

As far as relatively recently signed young defensemen go, Savard’s new contract puts him a touch below Calgary’s T.J. Brodie (five-years, roughly $23.3 million) and comes with the same cap hit as John Klingberg’s new contract (seven-year, $29.75 million).

Klingberg is an interesting comparable. Savard has played in 187 NHL games while Klingberg is entering his sophomore campaign, but both took major leaps offensively last season with Savard recording 36 points in 82 contests to more than double his previous career-high while Klingberg broke into the league with 40 points in 65 games. In both cases, there’s a risk that their 2014-15 showing will prove to be a deviation rather than a first step, but both teams have opted to take a risk on the young blueliners given that those cap hits will look very good if they can even just maintain their recent level of success.

It helps that Savard did far more than just chip in offensively. He was a major contributor with the man advantage and in shorthanded situations en route to averaging 22:56 minutes per game. He also recorded 195 hits and 105 blocked shots.

Although Savard is now locked up, the Blue Jackets still have some important decisions regarding their defense ahead of them as Dalton Prout, Ryan Murray, and Kevin Connauton are all eligible to become restricted free agents in 2016.

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