The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed left winger Ondrej Palat to a $26.5 million, five-year deal Friday.
Palat will count $5.3 million against the salary cap over the length of the contract, which was announced by general manager Steve Yzerman.
Palat was a restricted free agent who had filed for salary arbitration. The sides settled on this deal before a hearing was needed.
The 26-year-old had 17 goals and 35 assists for 52 points in 75 games last season. In 307 NHL games, the Czech native has 74 goals and 144 assists for 218 points and is considered one of the better defensive wingers in hockey.
Palat played all 26 games of the Lightning’s run to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, scoring eight goals and adding eight assists. He was a seventh-round pick, 208th overall, in the 2011 draft and got a significant raise from his previous $3.3 million salary.
Signing Palat was the final item on Yzerman’s offseason to-do list. After clearing cap space by trading forward Jonathan Drouin to Montreal for defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, Tampa Bay re-signed defenseman Andrej Sustr, signed winger Chris Kunitz and defenseman Andrej Sustr, and avoided arbitration with restricted free agent center Tyler Johnson, re-signing him to a $35 million, seven-year deal.
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