Jake Muzzin hasn’t been able to play yet this season while dealing with an upper-body injury, but as he showed during the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year, he’s an extremely valuable player for the Los Angeles Kings. The team obviously feels that way, too, as the Kings announced that Muzzin has signed a five-year extension with the club.
The deal will pay Muzzin $20 million according to Darren Dreger of TSN. With an annual average of $4 million, it’s a fantastic value buy for the Kings. The new contract also eats up four years in which Muzzin would be eligible for unrestricted free agency.
The 25-year-old defenseman was on the last year of his contract, after which he would have become a restricted free agent. Muzzin has just two full NHL seasons under his belt, but he showed remarkable improvement from 2012-13 to 2013-14.
In 76 games last season, Muzzin registered 24 points, while averaging 19:02 per game. He really came alive in the playoffs, however, with 12 points in 26 games, while averaging 23:24 per game to help the Kings win their second Stanley Cup in three years.
Over the last two seasons, Muzzin has proven to be a tremendous player in possession posting relative Corsi for percentages of 10.4 percent and 6.2 percent in 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively. As a defensive partner for Drew Doughty, Muzzin helps give the Kings an excellent top pairing that can hurt opponents at either end of the ice.
Muzzin was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. When the Pens didn’t sign him, the Kings picked him up as an unrestricted free agent and let him develop in the American Hockey League for two and a half years. Now they have a top-pairing defenseman for the next six years. Not a bad payoff.
The native of Woodstock, Ontario, has been sidelined for the Kings' first four games of the season with an upper-body injury.
