Tim Washe just got four more years from the Ducks, and Elliotte Friedman had the number out minutes later.
The cap hit is $2,250,000. The extension doesn't even begin until the 2027-28 season.
Here's the part that makes people blink. He scored 5 points in 39 games with Anaheim last season.
He also finished at a -6. Nobody handed out this contract for the offence.
The reason is the dot. Anaheim's own announcement put his faceoff win rate at 58.0 percent, second among all NHL rookies.
That's 225 wins out of 388 draws, and it led the entire club.
He's up to 41 career NHL games, all of them in Anaheim, plus one assist across 12 postseason contests.
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Tim Washe lands four-year Ducks extension despite just five NHL points
Last season started in San Diego, where the 25-year-old put up 27 points in 36 games.
That earned him a spot at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic in February.
Before any of it, he captained Western Michigan to the 2025 NCAA national championship, the first in that program's history.
He led the NCAA in faceoff win percentage that year at 63.1 percent, and he added two assists in the title game.
The NCHC also named him Defensive Forward of the Year. That award doesn't go to passengers.
Anaheim finished 43-33-6 for 92 points and third in the Pacific. Close to something, not quite there.
They also gave up 287 goals. A centre who wins pucks back stops being a luxury at that point.
Cutter Gauthier signed a six-year deal earlier this month after a 41-goal season. Verbeek is locking his own room down.
The Ducks ended Chris Kreider's contract by mutual agreement to open that space. Nobody in Orange County has been shy about the plan.
Troy Terry is on injured reserve with a hip issue and an expected return of November 15. Ryan Poehling is questionable for the start of the season.
Joel Quenneville runs that bench, and he now has a faceoff man under contract through 2030-31.
So is that real money for five points? Paying for draws works like buying good tires. Nobody notices until the road turns wet.
The deal doesn't kick in for two more seasons. Anaheim is paying for who Washe becomes, and he gets a full schedule every year to show they read it right.
Is $2.25 million too much for a fourth line faceoff specialist?
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