BREAKING: Islanders Sign Romanov to Massive Extension

The shoe that everyone’s been waiting to drop finally dropped. The New York Islanders inked Alexander Romanov to an eight-year, $50 million contract. The Islanders have $14.69 million leftover in cap space.

The deal is massive, but right in line with industry expectations for the 25-year-old blueliner. It’s a massive commitment to Romanov, who is now tied to the organization until 2033. The contract language includes certain protections:

Year 2-4 Romanov gets a full-NMC

Year 5- NMC + 16-team NTC

Year 6-8 16-Team NTC

He scored four goals and 20 points over 64 games, while playing 22:18 per night. Romanov’s overall on-ice success varied at times, but it’d be hard to argue he stepped up when he needed to, especially through waves of injuries. He played through torn cartilage for parts of this past season.

Romanov and his agent, Dan Millstein, could look at recent contracts given out and could have easily commanded even more than what came down here on a max eight-year deal. Lesser defensemen in Kevin Bahl and Nicolas Hague received shorter-term deals worth over $5 million.

The length of the deal is a bit surprising. While not a knock on Romanov, the Islanders have spent three of their five top-64 picks on left-shot defensemen in the last two drafts (Schaefer, Aitcheson, Pulkkinen). That list doesn’t include the likes of Calle Odelius (2022 second-round pick) and Isaiah George, who already played 33 games for the Islanders last year.

There is no trade protection listed on the deal on PuckPedia, but that is subject to change. Adam Pelech‘s future beyond this season has become even murkier with this news.

In any event, it’s a massive contract and a major commitment by Islanders’ GM Mathieu Darche.