The Los Angeles Kings continue to do good business.
Kings general manager Dean Lombardi made another savvy move by signing 25-year-old defenceman Jake Muzzin to a five-year extension worth $20 million.
By locking up Muzzin, who was scheduled to become a restricted free agent following the 2014-15 season, the Kings now have four of their six starting defencemen signed through the 2017-18 season.
If you just looked at Muzzin’s point total (12 goals and 29 assists in 132 career regular season games) nothing would jump out at you, but the Woodstock, Ont., native provides plenty of value beyond the traditional numbers.
For those who don’t follow advanced statistics closely, Muzzin is a darling of the analytics community. Just don’t tell Drew Doughty.
Jeff Simmons on Twitter: “Well this is a new one. http://t.co/oLGUKch6TC”
Muzzin is a master of puck of possession. He led all defencemen with a 61.1 Corsi For percentage during the 2013-14 regular season. Boston’s Patrice Bergeron was the only player in the league to finish with a higher number. In the playoffs, Muzzin added six goals and six assists in 26 games. He led all defencemen in post-season goals and only Doughty, Ryan McDonagh, P.K. Subban and Brent Seabrook finished with more post-season points. Not bad company to be in.
Alongside Doughty, Muzzin has the potential to grow into a high-end No. 2 defenceman. If that turns out to be the case, this will be a steal of a signing at $4 million per season.
CAP COMPARABLES:
Jake Gardiner, Toronto Maple Leafs (5 years, $20.25 million): Gardiner may have been the benchmark that the Kings used in their negotiation. Muzzin is in the same age bracket – just one year older than Gardiner – and produced similar numbers last season. Both are good young skaters that drive puck possession. Muzzin is more sound in his own zone, but he plays with a far superior partner. There’s no Doughty in Toronto.
Cam Fowler, Anaheim Ducks (5 years, $20 million): Fowler is another solid comparison. He signed an identical five-year contract with the same salary cap hit in September of 2012. Offensively, Fowler offers much more upside. The American Olympian was a highly-touted prospect (drafted 12th overall in 2010) while Muzzin was a fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007. The Ducks defenceman is also three years younger than Muzzin.
Roman Josi, Nashville Predators (7 years, $28 million): Josi may be the best on-ice comparison. Both Josi and Muzzin are ascending young players that play beside perennial all-stars and have identical salary cap hits of $4 million in their new contracts. The 24-year-old Josi also offers a bit more offensive punch. He scored 16 more points than Muzzin last season while playing on a team with far less offensive talent.
John Carlson, Washington Capitals (6 years, $23.8 million): Just like Josi and Gardiner, Carlson is 24 years old. He had similar offensive production to Josi but did not drive possession as well as Muzzin. Carlson needs to improve his play in his own zone, but that should progress under new coach Barry Trotz.