ARLINGTON, V.A. — Hours after committing to Ryan Leonard for eight years, the Washington Capitals are doing the same for Justin Sourdif .
The Capitals have re-signed forward Justin Sourdif to an eight-year, $50.8 million contract, general manager Chris Patrick announced on Tuesday night. Sourdif's deal carries an AAV of $6.35 million.
"Justin is a good young forward who has continued to develop steadily throughout his career. He is versatile and demonstrated his ability to play an important forward role for our team whenever the opportunity arose last season," Patrick said. "We are thrilled to sign him to a long-term contract and look forward to seeing him continue to elevate his game alongside our veteran core and our young group of players. We believe he has a bright future ahead of him and are confident that he will continue to make valuable contributions to our organization in the coming years."
Sourdif, who was acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers last summer, is coming off a strong rookie season where he finished 12th in Calder Trophy voting and established himself as a reliable full-time center that can move up and down the lineup after having started the year on the fourth line wing.
In 78 games for Washington, the 24-year-old recorded 15 goals and 20 assists, including 26 in his final 40 games, while filling in seamlessly for an injured Pierre-Luc Dubois for the majority of the year. He also led all Capitals forward in goals-for percentage at 5-on-5 (62.7), and D.C. outscored its opponents 47-28 at 5-on-5 when Sourdif was on the ice.
Going into this season, Sourdif is expected to continue playing a key role down the middle for a deep, revamped Capitals team that has their sights set on returning to the playoffs.
This is the final day that returning players are allowed to re-sign for eight years, as the new CBA goes into effect on Wednesday.
