Adam Pelech Signs Eight-Year Islanders Contract Extension
It’s a great day for the Pelech Posse. Adam Pelech signed an eight-year contract with the New York Islanders Friday, avoiding a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Aug. 11.
Financial terms of the agreement have not been officially disclosed, however, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the contract carries a $5.75 million average annual value. Pelech is 26 and the contract will run through the 2028-29 season.
Pelech had four goals and 10 assists in the 2020-21 season. He added five more points in 19 playoff games and was second in the team in time-on-ice.
He really shines in his own zone. He’s considered one of the best defensive defensemen in the NHL, with advanced analytics backing that up. He also passes the eye test with his incredible decision-making skills on both ends of the ice.
The contract is one of the largest dished out for a shutdown defenseman since Marc-Édouard Vlasic signed an eight-year, $56 million contract in July 2017. He was coming off a 28-point season a year after he had 39 and another 12 in the playoffs en route to the Stanley Cup Final with the Sharks. The now 34-year-old has since struggled to live up to that contract.
If Friedman is right, the average annual value of the contract is less than Vlassic’s. Friedman previously mentioned that the reason we’ve heard so little from the Isles since free agency is that general manager Lou Lamoriello is trying to make a trade with an undisclosed team. He doesn’t want that team to know how much cap space he has.
With cap space so valuable in today’s NHL, having more can be a point of leverage in trade negotiations. The Islanders have mainly been linked to talks regarding St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko.
Pelech was a third-round draft pick in 2012 and has 75 points in 303 NHL games. He’s blossomed Since Barry Trotz became head coach and has played heavy minutes for the team in the last three seasons.
Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.
