A lot of money and term for Hagel. Could end up either way in my opinion, either a huge mistake or a huge steal if he can keep improving

But who do they need to sign? Stamkos will take some kind of discount. The cap will go up. They probably need another Dman, but they have the space to do it.

don't think this is as egregious as people are assuming; it covers the productive years of his career and is likely going to be better value than anyone they could've potentially picked up in free agency to fill the role hagel will play

With what cap space? Tampa gonna be in cap hell with contracts like these for a while.

The contract demonstrates their faith in its potential.
With his dynamic game and ability to score, he will be a valuable addition to the team's attacking squad.

really? he's a career .62 PPG player over 3 seasons (two with the worst CHI team in a decade) then he was a major contributor in their playoff games last year.
now that he's playing on a much better team this contract is at the very least market value. with the cap going up and given that he's only 24 this is a great deal!

Let's list all the non-ELC 30+ goal scorers:

McDavid 12.5mm
Pasta 11.25
Rantanen 9.25
Drai 8.5
Point 9.5
Tage 7.1 (funny people pooped on this deal too)
Robertson 7.75
Hughes 8.0
Mac 12.6
Ovi 9.5
Scheifele 6.125
Verhaege 4.17(signed after scoring 9G)
Kempe 5.5 (signed after scoring 14 G)
Kapri 9.0
Matthews 11.6
McCann 5.0
Meier 8.8
Nylander 6.9
Tkachuk 9.5
Kuzmenko 5.5
Petterson 7.3
Stutzle 8.35
Zib 8.5
Horvat 8.5
Hintz 8.45
Keller 7.15
Kyrou 8.13
RNH 5.13 (signed after scoring 16 G)

I don't think I need to keep going to prove my point. 30+ goal scorers at $6.5mm just do not exist, especially in a new cap world that begins next year.

Wow someone actually thinking ahead he was playing really well in Chicago had a very good Cup Final run though injured. Followed it up with a 30 -34-64 season in which he was second amongst all NHL fowards in take aways to Marner this is going to look like the last MacKinnon deL type steal by the end!!

Nails it!!

Didn't like all they gave Chicago for him, don't like this contract. He showed a lot of hustle in the series against Toronto but I've never understood the appeal TB has for Hagel.

You do realize when he gets a another great season with Point and Kuch, this would be a good signing

Kicks in next year and they're under the cap still.
Solids signing for a good two way guy imo.

Maybe a little long?

They need 3 offensive and 3 dman 2024-2025 with Stamkos included. With discount he takes 5M at least (which i think he will not give). And im not buying this cap raise before it actually happens...

I'm happy Hagel signed this... This increases the chance of Stamkos going to Toronto while taking Tampa out of the picture for a SC push...

Love this BTW:

https://www.mapleleafsinsider.com/Lightning-winger-overconfidence-during-interview-after-40-minutes-comes-back-to-bite-him-in-the-ass-230592

I dont think it'll be as bad as people think given the cap increase, but I don't know why Tampa caved either. Hagels sample size for success is small.

This is the gamble that competing teams need to make. I think this will turn out just fine

If he can be what he was last season sure it's worth it if not this one could age pretty bad

Brisebois gave TWO first picks for Hagel, so obviously he believes in the player

He would have been an arbitration eligible RFA.

He would not have been much cheaper on a bridge deal if he has another 30 goal season. Maybe 4.5-5.5 million on a deal that buys up his ARB RFA years.

Tampa's core is ageing, and he is one of the few younger forwards they have. The cap is going up to 90-100 million over the next few years once escrow is paid off. The only way I can see this contract being a major issue is if he got a NMC in the back half of the deal.

The Chicago trade was an inflated return because they paid for his cap hit just as much as they paid for the player.

If he wasn't cost controlled at 1.5M for multiple years, Chicago would have received that return. Tampa got absurd value from that trade so far. He is still signed for another year at 1.5M after scoring 30 for them at that cap hit.

He was 1 year from UFA

Everyone felt the same way with Killorn, Johnson, Palat deals years ago. Too long/too much money for middle-6ers. With a cap jump, this deal should age well. Also, with so many long-term contracts on the lightning, it gives them a chance to retool over the next couple years and have another crack with those players later on.

Tampa Bay forgetting how they won those Cups.

Maybe one or two years too long, considering it doesn’t kick in until next year so it’s a 9-year commitment, but it seems pretty reasonable to me. He’s had two solid seasons with two different teams, and 30 goals is impressive for somebody who I don’t think spent a lot of time on the top line or first power play unit. He seems to be strong defensively too. I guess we’re still waiting for word on any signing bonuses or no-move clauses, but as long as those aren’t too crazy, $6.5M isn’t a bad price for a solid 2-way top-6 forward.

TADAM!

Kyrou 25yo 122P/173G 8x$8.125M
Terry 25yo 176P/274G 7x$7M
Svechnikov 21yo 140P/205G 8x$7.9M
Hagel 25yo 132P/211G 8x$6.5M
Anderson 26yo 115P/267G 7x$5.5M

My conclusion is that you get paid for points, whatever the quality of the team or the importance of the games.

Now let's argue about the worst contract of the bunch lol.

Nah, seems you still don't understand how they won those Cups.