After several reports indicated that a deal between the Kings and Anze Kopitar was close, the organization made it official on its Twitter account on Saturday afternoon.
The contract is for eight years and worth a total of $80 million. Kopitar will receive a full no-move clause through 2020, and it becomes a limited no-trade clause after that.
The 28-year-old will also receive a $9 million bonus in each of the first two years of the contract.
Here’s the financial breakdown of his new contract:
It’s a rich deal for the Kings, who already have seven other players signed through 2019 and beyond, but they couldn’t let their franchise center walk in free agency.
- Dustin Brown ($5.875 million/yr until 2022)
- Jeff Carter ($5.272/yr until 2022)
- Marian Gaborik ($4.875 million/yr until 2021)
- Drew Doughty ($7 million/yr until 2019)
- Jake Muzzin ($4 million/yr until 2020)
- Alec Martinez ($4 million/yr until 2021)
- Jonathan Quick ($5.8 million/yr until 2023)
Here’s what LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen had to say about the deal:
While this is a massive contract that could potentially complicate the team’s financial flexibility next decade, it’s also a signing that is absolutely vital to the team’s ongoing success. Put bluntly, without Kopitar, the Kings aren’t necessarily an elite NHL team, and while a $10M cap hit is very high, it’s still clearly the preferred scenario over seeing a franchise player test free agency.
Kopitar has posted at least 61 points in every season (except the lockout year), and he’s on pace to surpass that mark again in 2015-16.
Oh and the two Stanley Cup rings aren’t too shabby either.