Johnny Boychuk has been an excellent defenseman for the resurgent Islanders this season. Boychuk would've beena free agent in the summer. The Islanders had a lot of cap space. Getting a deal done before made a lot of sense for both sides. On Thursday, it happened.

Devon Kennard Jerseys The Islanders and Boychuk have agreed on a seven-year, $42 million extension. Boychuk himself jumped on twitter to break the news:

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Yes! Yes! Yes! For seven more years!!

Johnny B (@joboych)

As a matter of fact, it was Boychuks first tweet. Thats certainly one way to gain followers quickly.

Another way is to be a succe sful hockey player, especially onein a major market. Boychuk has done that in the past with the Bruins and this season for the Isles. Hes been a positive player in terms of shot metrics for every season of his career, and relative to his teammates for all but the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign.

Much of that time was spent paired with one of the leagues best defenseman, Zdeno Chara. This season, hes spent most of his time with another solid player in Nick Leddy. But even if you want to credit his partners for some of his succe s, its hard to say Boychuks been anything but a solid NHL defenseman for years. Hes played on top Arizona Cardinals Sleepwear Underwear pairings, drawn tough a signments and come out looking good. Thats all you can ask for.

So this deal may seem like a slam dunk win for both sides. Its not, though, because of that pesky thing called age.

Boychuk Kyler Murray Hoodies Sweatshirts is 31 years old. This contract, at a hefty $6 million average annual value, will pay him into his age-38 season. The aging curve for most NHL players suggest they peak between the ages of 23-29 and decline afterwards. That makes any long-term deal handed out to a guy on the outer edge or past that age range problematic.

There is no guarantee Boychuk follows that age curve exactly. Heck, you can make an argument he already isnt, given how good this season has been for him. But Boychuk doesnt have to just buck that age trend for one or two years. He has to do it for most of this deal, which is easy to imagine now but much harder to actually do in practice.

So did the Kyler Murray T Shirts Islanders make a mistake? Thats not nece sarily the case either.

The Islanders' cap situation is extremely favorable, largely because they have many of their young players tied up already. John Tavares is locked up through 2017-18 at a reasonable $5.5 million cap hit. They already signed Leddy to an with the same cap hit a few weeks ago. Travis Hamonic is signed through 2019-20. Useful pieces Mikhail Grabhovski and Nikolai Kulemin are tied up through 2017-18.

And many of their free agents are of the restricted variety, meaning theyll come at a discount. That includes Anders Lee and Brock Nelson this year, or Ryan Strome next season. Kyle Okposo is unrestricted after next season, but hes one player and the Islanders should have the space to resign him.

This deal could certainly look lousy after the 2017-18 season, when the Isles have a bunch of free agents and Boychuk is another three years older with four years left. Its also po sible the Islanders, a Kelvin Beachum Jerseys Stanley Cup contender this year with a young team, will have won it all once, or multiple times in the interim. Its also po sible the salary cap goes up. Three years is an eternity in pro sports.

With Boychuk likely to get this deal on the open market NHL teams still havent quite figured out paying 30-plus-year olds isnt the smartest of ideas the Islanders faced the prospect of replacing Boychuk, Anquan Boldin Jerseys paying him even more to stay on July 1 or biting the bullet now. They chose the latter.

Overall, any deal that pays a 31-year-old defenseman until hes 38 is going to be better for him than for the team. More likely than not, the Isles will probably see Boychuk as an albatro s on their cap at some point. But the Islanders are taking a calculated risk they can win a Cup in the next four seasons.

Given their situation, and Boychuks current play, its a risk worth taking.