| Nick Obergan. 11th January, 2011 - 1:08 pm
 Los Angeles Kings President and General Manager Dean Lombardi accomplished a very important task this past weekend: he locked up Jack Johnson, one of his two young cornerstone defensemen, to a long-term contract. After this season is completed, both Johnson and Drew Doughty were set to be restricted free agents, but Johnson avoided that by agreeing to a 7-year/$30.5M contract extension.
The Kings are getting a fair hometown deal here, as Johnson is only 23-years-old (turns 24 January 13th) and has now committed to the franchise through what should be his peak years. The seven year pact also pushes back Johnson?s ability to be an unrestricted free agent four years, a very important factor in the salary cap world.
Originally a 3rd overall draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005, Johnson stayed in college (Mighigan) longer than Carolina preferred and was shipped off for immediate help (Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason). Now in his fourth season with L.A., Johnson is approaching stardom and the young and rebuilding Canes likely regret the trade.
Last year Johnson set career highs with 80 games, 8 goals, 28 assists and 36 points, showing the world the skills that earned him the Best Offensive Defenseman award in college. He will likely eclipse his offensive production this season, with 4 goals, 27 assists and 31 points in 41 games. He is near the top of the league among defensemen in points, power play points and ice time at over 24 minutes per game.
His breakout season last year earned him a selection for the Team USA Olympic squad, and later he captained the World Championship team after his Kings were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round. In the six game series against Vancouver, Johnson tied for the team lead with seven points; his seven assists were a Kings? franchise record for defensemen in one playoff series.
Had Johnson have been able to test the market as a RFA this summer, it was probably he would have received an offer in excess of the $4.357M annual cap hit that this contract will carry. In comparison: Mike Green (25-years-old) carries a $5.25M hit; Shea Weber signed a two-year deal at 23-years-old worth $4.5M per season; Dion Phaneuf has a cap hit of $6.5M on a long-term deal he signed when he was 23-years old (though widely seen as an error). There is no reason to think that Johnson wouldn?t have received an offer at $4.5 annually at minimum.
Grade for Kings: A
In return for the hometown ?discount?, Johnson gets seven years of guaranteed money and a very fair salary. He no longer has to worry about an injury affecting his contract talks, or have the thoughts of contract extensions and free agency on his mind for another 7+ years.
He also gets to continue his career with a stable organization that has quality people in management who are very good at their jobs, and who are assembling a perennial contender littered with young and exciting talent.
Plus he gets to stay in California, ten minutes from Hollywood; tough sell for Lombardi, I?m sure.
Grade for Johnson: A-
Nick is RealGM?s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan
|
