Islanders Extend Moulson

Instead of finding himself in unrestricted free agency in July, Matt Moulson and the New York Islanders have agreed to terms on a 3-year contract extension on Thursday afternoon, reportedly worth $9.4 million.  This works out to be a pretty good contract extension for both sides, as Moulson has really found a niche on Long Island and this also gives the club another hefty(ish) contract to help boost their overall annual numbers against the salary cap floor.  The salary cap hit for each season in this new deal works out to be $3.133 million per year, which is a nice raise from his current $2.45 million cap hit.

Remarkably, Moulson is on the same scoring pace that he finished with last season, 0.59 points per game through 49 games for the Islanders this season, 17 goals and 12 assists.  He currently ranks 137th in pool scoring, which is down marginally in terms of rankings, but pretty much the same in points.

Moulson has become a bit of a favourite on the Island it seems, so his extension should come as a pleasant surprise during the All-Star break to many Islanders fans.

The Islanders have already re-signed Milan Jurcina to a new contract extension this season, bringing their total number of players up to 12 (with two active buyouts) for the 2012 season for an annual cap hit of $28 million, still $15 million below the 2011 salary cap floor.  With 11 players still to sign, the Islanders should get to the floor with relative ease, but they may need a little bit of extra help to make it.

I really like this signing by the Islanders, as they have proved that giving a kid some good ice-time can generally turn into confidence, which inevitably turns into scoring numbers. With Moulson, he's proving to be a valuable asset and one worthy of a medium-sized deal like this, which should help pad the organization's overall numbers. If the Islanders can find more players like Moulson, they could start working their way towards being more like the St. Louis Blues, with some good, gritty forwards that can really put the puck in the net.