Golden Knights sign Theodore to 7-year extension
The Vegas Golden Knights inked defenseman Shea Theodore to a seven-year contract extension with an average annual value of $7.425 million, the club announced Thursday.
Theodore was a pending unrestricted free agent who would've likely been the top player at his position in the UFA class of 2025. He's in the final season of the seven-year pact he inked with Vegas in September 2018. The current deal carries a $5.2-million cap hit, according to PuckPedia.
The 29-year-old is a top-pairing blue-liner for the Golden Knights. He posted at least 40 points in each of the previous five seasons after collecting 37 in 2018-19. The Canadian notched 42 points in only 47 games in 2023-24, as he missed nearly half of the campaign due to injury.
Theodore has a goal and six assists in six games so far this season. However, his underlying numbers have been subpar, to the tune of a 41.39 expected goals for percentage and a 47.67 scoring chances for percentage, per Natural Stat Trick.
Shea Theodore signed a hefty deal with Vegas; he's currently playing at a #2D-#3D calibre after many years of considerably stronger. If he continues to decline as he has recently the deal will be pretty player-friendly pretty soon. pic.twitter.com/Y7P4mu0TAA
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) October 24, 2024
Theodore spent his last eight NHL campaigns with the Golden Knights. They acquired him during the expansion draft in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks, who wanted to ensure Vegas didn't select Josh Manson or Sami Vatanen, both of whom were left unprotected.
The Golden Knights now have Theodore, Noah Hanifin, and Alex Pietrangelo signed on the back end for the next few seasons. Hanifin's cap hit is $7.35 million, and he's on the books through 2031-32, while Pietrangelo is at $8.8 million through 2026-27.
Anaheim selected Theodore 26th overall in 2013.