The Los Angeles Kings announced yesterday that they’ve signed Quinton Byfield to a five-year contract, carrying a $6.25 million cap hit.
LOCKED IN. 🔒
— LA Kings (@LAKings) July 15, 2024
We have signed forward Quinton Byfield to a five-year contract extension!
DETAILS 📲 https://t.co/wtITKuBoPb pic.twitter.com/ukhF9Y2VHo
As for the contract, while it's great to get the forward extended, a five-year length wasn’t really optimal, because it means Byfield will be able to sign a much larger deal at UFA status in his mid-20s, which could be costly for the Kings cap-wise in the long-run.
I’ve done an in-depth contract analysis article for the deal at HockeyComparables.com, which can be viewed here:
Of course, Byfield is likely only going to get better, and will end up being well worth his cap hit. Coming off a breakout year and turning just 22 years old next month, all signs point to Byfield taking another step offensively next season.
The deal does continue a bit of a trend with the Kings’ recent contracts though: with Adrian Kempe, Vladislav Gavrikov, and now Byfield, they’ve been willing to extend players on short/mid-length deals, despite paying a cap hit that should likely be equivalent to a longer deal for each player, based on comparables.
Still, Byfield is set to be a huge part of the team’s forward group for the foreseeable future, and getting him extended was a key piece of remaining business for the team’s offseason plans.