After turning in a career year with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2022-23 season, forward Brandon Hagel has been rewarded with a major contract extension. On Tuesday, the Lightning announced that Hagel, 24, signed an eight-year extension worth $6.5 million per season.
Hagel's extension will kick in at the start of the 2024-25 season, and he will play out the upcoming season on the final year of his current deal at $1.5 million. The new contract will take Hagel through the 2031-32 campaign.
Last season was Hagel's first full season with the Bolts after being traded from the Chicago Blackhawks midway through the 2021-22 season. Hagel played a top-six role for Tampa Bay, and he thrived to the tune of 30 goals, 34 assists and 64 points. All of those numbers were career highs by comfortable margins.
Under the surface, Hagel's numbers were just as strong. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Lightning had a plus-14 goal differential and a 54.0% expected goals share, according to Natural Stat Trick.
With Hagel extended for the foreseeable future, Tampa Bay now has most of its core locked in for quite a while. Hagel, Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli, Nick Paul, Mikhail Sergachev, Erik Cernak and Andrei Vasilevskiy are all under contract through at least 2026-27.
Between now and next offseason, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois will have to work on hammering out an extension for captain Steven Stamkos.
