A few days ago, the Anaheim Ducks re-signed defenseman Jacob Larsson to a two-year deal worth $1.2 million per season.
Larsson was the third restricted free agent the Ducks have signed since mid-July, after Troy Terry and Sonny Milano, and he was the last of Anaheim’s significant RFAs still in need of an extension.
While I’ve been vocal about how good of a price the Ducks were able to get Milano and Terry for, I’m not as excited about Larsson’s contract. It’s obviously not a bad deal by any means, as it carries pretty much zero-risk, based on the length and AAV. But I’m much less sure of Larsson becoming a contributing member of the blue line than I am of Milano and Terry becoming contributing members of the forward group. Larsson’s deal is just a pretty average contract.
It’s also probably not long enough to really see a ton of value from it. Unlike Milano and Terry, I wouldn’t expect Larsson to be a quality member of the lineup, right in the first year of his contract at the beginning of next season. Based on where Larsson was at this season, he still has a little ways to go before we’d be able to consider him a solid member of the defense group. I guess to summarize, we’re just not really sure what we’ll get with Larsson next season and where he’ll fit into the lineup.
Based on some comparables, notably Madison Bowey and Robert Hagg’s two-year contracts signed in 2018, worth $1M and $1.15M per year respectively, Larsson’s deal is pretty fair. All players signed at 23 years old and were coming off years with similar production.
It’s definitely an important year for Larsson and hopefully we see this deal pay off. He’ll need to battle throughout the year to earn a spot and essentially has two years to prove his worth to the organization.
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Here's today's poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you like the price of Jacob Larsson's new contract?
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