On Wednesday, it was announced that Jakob Chychrun and the Washington Capitals agreed to a new eight year deal with an average annual value of $9 million. This is a great pay day for a defenseman who is having a career season with 18 goals and 25 assists and the 43 points already has set a career high.
The Los Angeles Kings need to pay attention to deals like this because they are currently in negotiations with one of their top defenseman, Vladislav Gavirkov. He is in the final year of a two-year $11.75 million contract and should also be looking for a bump in salary after he has had a career season.
Gavrikov has never been able to put up the offensive numbers that Chychrun has but he has taken on a much bigger role this season with the absence of Drew Doughty over the first few months of the season. He has averaged a career high in ice time at 23:29 with a +/- of +18 while adding four goals and 21 assists.
Could Jakov Chychrun's new deal impact contract negotiations between the Los Angeles Kings and Vladislav Gavrikov?
There is no denying that Chychrun has earned that new contract and it is hard to imagine Gavrikov would expect something similar. Chychrun is three years younger than Gavrikov and has been more productive on the offensive end than Gavrikov.
This is not to take anything away from what Gavrikov has brought to the Kings and he is a valuable part of this defense. After the trade deadline had passed, general manager Rob Blake confirmed that the Kings were actively working with Gavrikov towards a new deal.
There is no question that Gavrikov was going to get a raise. The biggest question is how much and just how many years the Kings were comfortable adding to a contract for a 29-year-old. At this point, with the recent contract, Gavrikov could probably get close to an AVV of $8 million in free agency.
The new contract by Chychrun probably improves Gavrikov's side of the negotiations, either with the Kings or in free agency, and my guess would be his next contract ends up around that $8 million mark for five, possibly six years. For the Kings, they may not want to wait much longer to get the deal done or they might run the risk of Gavrikov wanting to test free agency.