The Anaheim Ducks announced Friday that they signed defenseman Simon Despres to a five-year extension.
Here is their tweet revealing the completion of the deal:
According to Scott Lewis of Sportsnet, the deal is worth $18.5 million and will carry an annual cap hit of $3.7 million. ESPN's Pierre LeBrun broke down Despres' new deal:
The Ducks acquired Despres at the 2015 trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Ben Lovejoy. The 24-year-old's previous deal was set to expire at the end of the 2015-16 season, per Spotrac.com.
Last season was the first time in Despres' career that he played a full season, having never appeared in more than 34 games in three previous campaigns. But in his stints with both Pittsburgh and Anaheim, he proved that he can be a serviceable defender, with career highs in goals (3), assists (20) and plus-minus rating (plus-11) in 2014-15.
That kind of play gave him the opportunity to start this season as a "bona fide top-four defenseman," according to the Orange County Register's Eric Stephens.
A defenseman who ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Joe Pantorno
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