Center Joel Eriksson Ek signs eight-year extension with Wild

The Minnesota Wild have signed Joel Eriksson Ek to an eight-year extension with an average annual value of $5.25 million ($42 million total).

Eriksson Ek, 24, really took his game to a new level this season, scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 56 games. That offensive production, while still valuable, doesn’t compare to the defensive play that the young center brings to the table. Eriksson Ek finished fourth in Selke Trophy voting this season and played an important role on both special teams.

Interestingly, over the last few weeks, it had looked like the Wild would wait on extensions for Eriksson Ek and fellow restricted free agent Kevin Fiala until they knew what kind of number Kirill Kaprizov was going to come in at. Either they now have some clarity for that situation, or they’ve decided to move forward with their young center anyway.

A long-term extension will be buying out several years of unrestricted free agency for Eriksson Ek, but with such pedestrian numbers in his previous three seasons, it might still come in at a reasonable cap hit. Before this season, he had never scored more than eight goals in a single season and had just 66 points in his first 210 NHL games. Those numbers would also come into play had Eriksson Ek gone to arbitration, even though this recent breakout would carry more weight.