ARLINGTON, V.A. — Ryan Leonard will be with the Washington Capitals for the long haul.
The Capitals re-signed Ryan Leonard to an eight-year, $84 million contract extension on Tuesday, a deal that lasts through the 2034-35 season and carries an AAV of $10.5 million. With the new CBA taking effect later this week, this was one of the last days to sign returning players to an eight-year extension.
“We are extremely excited to sign Ryan to a long-term contract with our club,” general manager Chris Patrick said in a statement. “Ryan is a young and talented player who is still years away from entering his prime, and we believe he has tremendous potential to continue growing into an important player for our organization.
"While reaching his full potential will take time, we have been impressed with his work ethic and the way he continues to develop his game. We are confident in Ryan’s ability to continue improving as a hockey player, and we believe this agreement provides him with the opportunity to grow and develop within our organization while giving us the ability to keep a talented young player in our lineup for years to come.”
Leonard, who was taken eighth overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, is coming off a pivotal rookie season where he had 20 goals and 25 assists for 45 points in 75 games, including a team-leading 10 goals and 15 points through the final 20 games of the season as D.C. pushed for a playoff spot.
The 21-year-old winger ranked third among all NHL freshmen in power-play points (14), 5-on-5 points (16) and 2.13 points per 60 at 5-on-5. Leonard's performance led to him finishing eighth in Calder Trophy voting as the NHL's best rookie.
Going forward, he hopes to not only continue to grow into a top player for the Capitals, but establish himself as one of the NHL's best.
"There's kind of a certain point in the year where you realize who you are, and when you have the puck, how much more time you have, you kind of just figure out a little bit how this league works," Leonard said at the end of the season. "I'm not even close to kind of figuring it out at all. It's one year, I'm still 21 years old, so hopefully have a lot more time in this league and the game just continues to slow down."
