The islanders and Mathew Barzal agreed on Saturday on a three-year deal that will keep the team’s leading scorer on Long Island until 2023, a source confirmed to The Post.
The terms of the contract have not been announced, but it is widely reported that it has an average annual value of $ 7 million. The 23-year-old star center will earn $ 3 million in 2020-21 with a sign-up bonus of $ 1 million, $ 7 million in 2021-22 and $ 10 million in the final year, according to TSN.
Barzal’s new deal binds him to captain Anders Lee as the Islanders’ highest paid player. When it expires, Barzal will be a limited free agent with arbitration rights.
After missing Barzal’s training camp for the past five days, Barzal was back on the ice at the Islanders’ training facility on Saturday. On Wednesday, coach Barry Trotz acknowledged how difficult it will be for ‘anyone trying to catch up’, with the Islanders’ first game of the season, just days away.
Negotiations between the general manager of the islanders Lou Lamoriello and the Barzal camp, which did not have arbitration rights, were delayed because the NHL took time to determine the logistics of the coming season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The extra time enabled Lamoriello to clear the hood by sending defender Devon Toews to Colorado and preparing for Johnny Boychuk’s looming long-term injured reserve designation. The islanders are now about $ 3 million more than the upper limit of the salary ceiling, but that will be followed up once Boychuk is placed on LTIR and his $ 6 million ceiling hit is removed.
Barzal has been the Islanders’ top scorer since his first full NHL season in 2017-18, in which he scored 22 goals and dished out 63 assists in 82 games. That year he was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the league’s leading rookie.
The former 16th overall pick in the 2015 draft made All-Star nod in 2019 and 2020 after scoring 62 points (18 goals, 44 assists) and 60 points (19 goals, 41 assists) in each season.
In the run-up to the Islanders’ move to the conference final last season, Barzal had a strong offensive performance with five goals and 12 assists in 22 games, including five points on the power play.