The Anaheim Ducks just handed Tristan Luneau a six-year extension at $7.2 million a season, with 14 NHL games on his résumé.
Elliotte Friedman broke the news this afternoon, and he didn't bury the lede. It's the largest contract in NHL history for a player with that little big-league experience.
Read the numbers again. Two goals, two assists.
That's the entire NHL file on a defenseman now set to collect $43.2 million over six seasons.
His current deal pays $865,000 this season before restricted free agency. So Pat Verbeek is buying years early, betting on a jump nobody has seen at the top level yet.
And the Ducks barely used him last season. The right-shot blueliner logged 70 games with the San Diego Gulls and put up 41 points.
Pat Verbeek pays for a defenseman the Ducks kept in San Diego
He dressed for exactly one NHL game. He scored, finished plus-2, and went right back down the I-5.
Friedman reported the organization kept him in the minors after some earlier injuries. The club's view now? He'll be a top-four defenseman.
That's a big projection for a 22-year-old who went minus-5 over six NHL games in 2024-25.
The AHL side of that same season tells a friendlier story. He racked up 43 assists in 59 games in San Diego, the kind of puck distribution that gets a kid a power play look.
Go back further and the pedigree is obvious. His final QMJHL year with Gatineau produced 83 points and a +49 rating.
Anaheim grabbed the Victoriaville native 53rd overall in 2022. At 6-foot-1 and 211 pounds, he has an NHL frame. Now Joel Quenneville has to find him NHL minutes.
Then there's Friedman's kicker. Take care of your business before someone else does it for you, he wrote, adding that the Ducks have learned.
He didn't spell out who taught them.
Here's my problem with it. This is paying for a hope, and $7.2 million is real money for a guy who has never played more than seven NHL games in a season.
It's like buying a house off the blueprints. The drawings look gorgeous. You still have no idea whether the basement floods.
The cap math gets heavy fast. Leo Carlsson already carries an $18,000,000 hit, and Cutter Gauthier sits at $13,500,000.
Add the new number and Verbeek has $38.7 million riding on three young players who haven't won anything together yet.
The Ducks open the regular season Friday night in Las Vegas. Their tune-up schedule ended with three straight losses, including a 6-2 defeat in Los Angeles on September 26.
So where does Luneau fit at puck drop? The contract says top four. Last season says San Diego. Quenneville gets to decide which one is lying.
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Is Pat Verbeek overpaying Tristan Luneau at $7.2 million a year?
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