New York Islanders: Grading the home-run Ryan Pulock extension
The New York Islanders have hit it out of the park with the Ryan Pulock extension.
It was announced today that the New York Islanders had signed Pulock to a two-year, $10 million contract extension with an AAV of $5 million, avoiding arbitration as a direct result.
Put simply, this is a wonderful piece of business by Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello who has locked up a key cog of the blueline at a more than reasonable price, thus retaining some cap flexibility when it comes to thrashing out an extension with star forward and pending RFA Mathew Barzal.
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But, let’s focus on Pulock for now who has emerged as not only a solid and dependable No. 1 defenseman for the New York Islanders, but he’s also a rapidly rising star in the National Hockey League.
Pulock On The Rise
As mentioned above, Ryan Pulock has fast established himself as one of the best young blueliners in the entire NHL, and he’s risen to prominence as the main horse for an Islanders team that prides themselves on playing solid defense and keeping the puck out of the net.
Pulock, who turned 26 in October, is approaching his prime years and should only get better with time, which is both a tantalizing thought for Islanders fans and a scary proposition for the rest of the NHL.
Standing at 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds, Pulock is an absolute specimen and he uses his size incredibly well in his own zone, recording 110 hits in 68 regular season games in 2019-20 and a further 54 in 22 postseason contests.
He’s a well-rounded player who can contribute at both ends and can also be relied upon to eat monster minutes, as backed up by his career-high 22:24 TOI in 2019-20.
Pulock can also contribute offensively in a pretty big way, which is a prerequisite for any top-pair and potential high-end defenseman in the modern-day National Hockey League.
After setting a new career-high in points with 37 during the 2018-19 regular season, Pulock was well on pace to smash that in 2019-20, putting up 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 points in 68 games before the COVID-19 Pandemic halted the regular-season.
He was a key contributor in the Stanley Cup Playoffs too as the Islanders made the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 27 years, recording 10 points (2 G, 8 A) in 22 postseason games.
Also boasting a big shot, Pulock is a dynamic defenseman that can play in all and key situations and he’s on the cusp of reaching the 40 point plateau for the first time in his career, which isn’t bad considering that he’s on a team that quite clearly and emphatically values team defense over offense and individual accolades.
Drafted No. 15 overall by the New York Islanders in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Pulock has led all Islanders defensemen in scoring in each of the past two seasons and has recorded 108 points (31 G, 77 A) in 234 career regular-season games, to go along with 14 points (3 G, 11 A) in 36 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Grading The Contract
Given everything we have just mapped out above, this is a win-win deal for both Ryan Pulock and the New York Islanders.
For Pulock, this is quite clearly the player betting on himself and putting himself in line for a huge payday once he becomes a UFA at the end of the 2021-22 season.
Likely to have recorded 40 plus points were it not for the COVID-19 Pandemic, coupled with the fact that he is just 26-years-old, it is feasible to think that Pulock is only going to get better and better over the next two years and really cement himself as a high-level two-way defenseman in the NHL.
And that’s why this is an incredibly smart piece of business by the Islanders, too.
First and foremost, $5 million per year for a player of Pulock’s age, stature and body of work is bordering on being team-friendly, especially when you consider that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, who is younger granted, has similar production to Pulock and currently carries an AAV of $6,750,000.
The same can be said for Ryan Ellis of the Nashville Predators and Jacob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes who are both on more money than Pulock, but the roles and level of production are roughly the same.
Plus, by the time Pulock’s new deal comes to an end after the 2021-22 season, the Islanders would have cleared some sizeable contracts off the books which will give them the cap space needed to sign the defenseman to a monster deal should he elevate his game and propels himself to the next level over the next two years.
There’s also another interesting caveat at play here in that in signing Pulock to a two-year, $10 million contract, the New York Islanders now have $3,905,833 in cap space.
That is important because, with teams allowed to go over the salary cap by 10 percent during the off-season, the Islanders now have the cap room and the flexibility to be able to re-sign superstar forward Mathew Barzal to a new deal, thus keeping intact a roster that is a piece or two away from really competing for a Stanley Cup.
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Overall. this is a home run of a deal for both Ryan Pulock and the New York Islanders, with both player and franchise clearly trending in the right direction.