A joyous P.K. Subban thanks David Desharnais and Brian Gionta for bailing him out.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez

In the biggest news of the offseason, the Canadiens and P.K. Subban finally agreed on a new contract that’ll keep him in Montreal thru 2021-22. They reached agreement on an eight-year deal worth a reported $72 million. A day after it looked like the two sides had reached a stalemate with salary arbitration looming, TSN’s Bob McKenzie broke the story on Twitter.

The news quickly spread like wildfire causing celebrations from Habs fans. Many were concerned that Subban would wind up with a one-year arbitration reward Friday. Montreal had come in at $5.25 million while Subban requested $8.5 million. He probably would’ve gotten somewhere in the middle and would’ve been restricted again the following summer. There was plenty of panic in Montreal.

Instead, the 25-year old former Norris winner will remain a Canadien the next eight seasons. He didn’t come cheap garnering an average of $9 million per year. While it’s a big payday, Subban is worth it. One of the best defensemen in the sport, he’s expected to become the next Montreal captain. In 2013-14, Subban played in all 82 games posting 10 goals with a career best 43 assists and 53 points while adding five goals and nine helpers in the postseason.

Astonishingly, he goes from being one of the biggest bargains to one of the highest paid players. Subban concluded a multi-year deal that paid him an average of $2.875 million. At $9 million per season, he gets nearly double Ryan McDonagh, who’s signed for five more years at a cap friendly hit of $4.7 million. McDonagh’s the same age and outperformed Subban in the Conference Final. He torched his former team for 10 points while the Rangers held Subban to two. By signing the next captain last summer, Rangers GM Glen Sather comes out smelling like roses. He has one of the best blueliners on a great contract.

Loosely translated, locking up your best players before they command what Subban did is best for business. It’s why I was in favor of giving Derek Stepan what he wanted last year. Instead, he’ll get in upwards of $6 million by next summer. With mediocre talent getting overpaid, long-term contracts are the way to go. They’re good investments.