Forward Frank Vatrano has agreed to a three-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season with the Ducks.
The Ducks announced the deal Sunday for the 30-year-old Vatrano, who is in his third season with the team. He has 68 goals and 53 assists in 200 games for the Ducks, including nine goals and 11 assists this season.
A person with knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press that the contract will pay Vatrano $3 million in each of the next three seasons, and he will make another $9 million in deferred salary beginning in 2035.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the Ducks don’t announce the financial details of their contracts.
Vatrano has been a dependable top-six forward since joining the Ducks as a free agent in 2022, scoring the most goals on the roster since he arrived at the club. While he led the Ducks last season with 37 goals and 60 points, general manager Pat Verbeek declined offers to trade him to a contender, preferring to keep Vatrano as a key part of his rebuild.
“We’re excited to have Frank in the sense that he wants to be here,” Verbeek said before Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “We value his goal-scoring ability, and I think that that’s going to be important as we as we start to become a lot more competitive in the next two years.”
The Ducks and Vatrano agreed to the deferred salary structure of his contract to keep Vatrano’s cap number low. He also is likely to reap tax benefits based on where he lives in 2035, because California’s comparatively large state income tax is sometimes a factor in athletes’ contract decisions.
Deferred salaries are allowed under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, but have rarely been used until this season.
Carolina signed Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin to extensions during the offseason that included payments deferred until 2032 and ’33 respectively. During the first month of the season, Toronto signed Jake McCabe to a five-year extension that has deferred money until 2031.
“I think my experience as a former player is players don’t realize when you retire, those checks that you’ve been getting for the last 10 years suddenly stop,” Verbeek said. “This allowed Frank to be able to have a situation where he’s going to provide for his family and and take care of them the next 10 years after that. The more we talked about it and the more the other side understood it, it became a win.”
Anaheim also is planning ahead to have salary cap room when its large group of young talent enters free agency and the Ducks push against the limits of the cap, as they intend to do.
The Ducks have numerous top talents still on their entry-level contracts, including four forwards chosen in the top five of various NHL drafts — Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish and Beckett Sennecke — along with promising defensemen Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov and Jackson LaCombe.
Vatrano would have become a restricted free agent this summer at the conclusion of his three-year, $10.95 million deal with the Ducks. An undrafted free agent from western Massachusetts, he began his NHL career with the Boston Bruins and made stops with the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers before signing with the Ducks as a free agent.
Vatrano has 169 goals and 122 assists in 601 career NHL appearances.
Beacham writes for the Associated Press.