Russia’s Mikhail Sergachev is set to stay at the Tampa Bay Lightning for the foreseeable future after penning a new eight-year contract extension worth $68 million in total.
The Lightning confirmed the news on Wednesday, which means the 24-year-old will see out the remaining year on his current three-year deal before the new contract kicks in to take him through the 2030-31 season.
Sergachev joined the Bolts from the Montreal Canadiens in 2017 and helped the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2020 and 2021.
Tampa fell short of an historic ‘threepeat’ this season as they suffered a 4-2 series defeat in the finals against the Colorado Avalanche.
Sergachev is part of a trio of key Russian stars for the Lightning which includes winger Nikita Kucherov and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Nizhnekamsk-born Sergachev has played 358 regular season career games with the Lightning, scoring 36 goals and registering 174 points overall.
He ranks fifth all-time in Tampa Bay franchise history among defensemen for goals and scoring, and fourth for assists with 138.
In postseason terms, Sergachev has played 92 games and posted eight goals and 30 points.
That’s good enough to rank him second in Lightning history among defensemen for playoff games, goals, assists (22) and scoring, according to the organization’s website.
Sergachev was part of a trio of Tampa stars to pen eight-year extensions, alongside fellow defenseman Erik Cernak and forward Anthony Cirelli.
However, the Lightning are unlikely to retain the services of longtime servant Ondrej Palat, with the 31-year-old Czech now on the open market.
It was previously announced that Tampa had added another Russian to their ranks in the form of forward Vladislav Namestnikov, who has returned on a one-year contract worth $2.5 million.
Namestnikov, 29, was initially drafted by the Bolts in 2011 but later left for spells at the New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, the Colorado Avalanche, and more recently the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars.