The Ducks have signed defenseman Tristan Luneau to a six-year contract extension that will run through 2033, the team announced on Thursday.
Luneau’s agreement, which starts next season, will carry an annual average value of $7.2 million.
That figure, which is commensurate with Pavel Mintyukov’s salary cap hit, reflects the market value of a top-four NHL defenseman. That’s a role Luneau is set to step into for the first time however, having skated in just 14 NHL games across the past three seasons for the Ducks.
Yet given what happened with Mintyukov and, more prominently, top scorers Leo Carlsson ($18 million AAV) and Cutter Gauthier ($13.5 million AAV) over the summer, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek put owners Henry and Susan Samueli’s money where his mouth was. He had vowed to take a more aggressive approach with pending restricted free agents in order to obviate competition and salary cap bloating.
Luneau’s contract value shatters the record sum committed to a player with so little experience.
“Signing Tristan to a long-term contract was a priority as we see him as a top-four defenseman for years to come,” Verbeek said in a statement. “Getting the deal done before the season started was a key part of our planning for now and the future.”
Luneau told reporters at practice he was amenable to a deal now because he wanted to show he was committed to the organization and to lock himself in long-term, even before he assumed a steady role with the parent club. Luneau was dominant offensively in the AHL two seasons ago to put an injury-plagued 2023-24 campaign behind him. He further rounded out his game in the minors last year, dressing just once for the parent club.
“It’s a great moment for me and my family. This is a group I want to be a part of for a long time,” said Luneau, adding that “I believe in what we’re all working for here.”
Luneau, 22, was the top defenseman in the QMJHL and was part of a promising crop that also included Mintyukov, No. 1 blue-liner Jackson LaCombe and the since-traded Olen Zellweger. They all entered 2023’s training camp as rookies, three of them being the top defenders in their respective junior leagues and LaCombe being one of the most electric blue-liners at the NCAA level.
Though ostensibly Luneau was the slowest to develop from the group, his physique and skating have always been the most powerful among that quartet. When he arrived at training camp in 2023, then-coach Greg Cronin was most enthused with Luneau, though he saw discernible potential in all four players.
The summer saw an outright evacuation of the right side of the Ducks’ defense as they bid adieu to John Carlson, Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba, as well as Zellweger, who had occasionally played right defense as a left shot. Then in the fall, Ian Moore and Drew Helleson sustained injuries.
Luneau was already set to take on a substantial role, and those developments cleared the way for him to start the year in a top-pairing slot with big minutes, carrying over his heavy duty from the preseason.
“It’s a lot of trust, obviously,” said Luneau of his lucrative pact after so few NHL games. “Now it’s time to live up to those expectations and the trust they put in you, and I’m ready to do the work for that.”