TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forward Brandon Hagel to an eight-year contract extension worth $52 million.
Vice president and general manager Julien BriseBois announced the deal Tuesday. Hagel will count $6.5 million against the salary cap annually when the new contract kicks in for the 2024-25 season.
"It feels like I got to a point where I proved a lot of people wrong. People that didn’t believe in me. Now I got this. I’m happy. I’m happy where I’m at," Hagel said after a Tuesday workout. "I’m happy with the city. Happy with the team. The ownership, everything around this organization is incredible. Now I get to go out there, play hockey and enjoy my life."
The soon-to-be 25-year-old had a career-best 64 points in 81 games last season, his first full one with the Lightning since they acquired him in a trade with Chicago. Tampa Bay gave up two first-round draft picks to get Hagel from the Blackhawks before the 2022 trade deadline.
The Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21, are aiming to keep their championship window open for years to come. This signing makes Hagel an important part of that quest.
"See [Brayden Point] scoring 50 last year. He just keeps getting better, keeps getting better. You got [Anthony Cirelli], [Nikita Kucherov], [Andrei Vasilevskiy], [Mikhail Sergachev]. You go down the list," Hagel said while describing the core of Tampa Bay's roster. "These guys are just getting better. Just getting into there prime. I couldn’t be more excited for the future as well as starting now.
Nick Paul and Erik Cernak signed contract extensions before last season, so they join the above group as players who are under contract for at least three more seasons.
Hagel is earning a significant raise from the just over $2 million he’ll get this season. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native who was originally drafted by Buffalo in the sixth round in 2016 has 143 points in 240 regular-season and playoff games.
His career was full of uncertainty five years ago, but now Hagel says he can relax and just focus on hockey- and not buying new winter clothes.
"I want to win a lot, and I think this is the place to do it. Living in Tampa, you can’t complain," Hagel said with a smile. "I’d rather [deal with the heat] than putting on my snow boots."
The Lightning haven't announced when they'll open training camp, but it'll most likely be during the third week of September. A handful of players are already back in Tampa Bay for informal group workouts.
