Leonard signs 8-year, $84 million contract Capitals

Ryan Leonard signed an eight-year, $84 million contract with the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. It begins next season and has an average annual value of $10.5 million.

The 21-year-old forward had 45 points (20 goals, 25 assists) in 75 games with the Capitals in 2025-26, his first full season in the NHL. He ranked third among League rookies with 14 power-play points and goals scored 5-on-5 (16).

Leonard is in the final season of the three-year, entry-level contract he signed March 31, 2025.

"Love it here," Leonard said Thursday. "My family loves coming out here, and they just know how happy I am here, and can't thank the organization enough for putting that trust in me. It's really exciting to lock in pretty much nine more years here."

A first-round pick (No. 8) by the Capitals at the 2023 NHL Draft, Leonard has 46 points (21 goals, 25 assists) in 84 regular-season games and one assist in eight Stanley Cup Playoff games.

“We are extremely excited to sign Ryan to a long-term contract with our club,” Washington general manager Chris Patrick said Tuesday. “Ryan is a young and talented player who is still years away from entering his prime, and we believe he has tremendous potential to continue growing into an important player for our organization. 

“While reaching his full potential will take time, we have been impressed with his work ethic and the way he continues to develop his game. We are confident in Ryan’s ability to continue improving as a hockey player, and we believe this agreement provides him with the opportunity to grow and develop within our organization while giving us the ability to keep a talented young player in our lineup for years to come.”

By getting the contract done by Tuesday, Leonard was able to sign for eight years. The new collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association, which began Wednesday, limits contracts to a maximum of seven years.

"It's just super rewarding to hear they have that trust in you, and obviously you want to get it done as quickly as possible," Leonard said. "And obviously we're working up against the Sept. 15 at midnight time (deadline), but it was really nice to get it done and super happy."

Justin Sourdif also signed an eight-year contract with the Capitals on Tuesday, worth $50.8 million ($6.35 million AAV).

The contract will begin next season for the 24-year-old forward, who is entering the second season of a two-year, $1.65 million contract ($825,000 AAV) he signed with Washington on June 28, 2025.  

Patrick said Thursday that initially he wasn't sure he'd be able to get both players signed to the eight-year maximum deals before the new CBA rules started.

“I was hopeful," he said. "Probably in August I was less optimistic that it would happen, but we continued to work at it with Ryan. Probably started the conversations in earnest just after development camp here, and had a couple different options for them to consider that I think we were open to both on a kind of shorter-term, more bridge-type deal, and then another longer-term deal.

“For me, my goal with both those players was to try to have them as Caps for as long as possible. So, if that meant an eight-year deal now or a shorter-term deal that you followed up with a longer six- or seven-year deal, that was my end goal. So, it felt like in Ryan's case, at some point it felt like it shifted more towards they were open to that long-term concept, so we definitely ran with that. And then kind of the last, you know, few days leading up to it, we got a lot of work done on it.”

Sourdif had 35 points (15 goals, 20 assists) in 78 games as a rookie last season, his first with the Capitals after being acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers for a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a sixth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft on June 26, 2025.

A third-round pick (No. 87) by the Panthers in the 2020 NHL Draft, Sourdif has 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) in 82 regular-season games. 

“It's really satisfying for us, as a hockey ops group," Patrick said of signing Sourdif. "I'm sure satisfying for the coaching staff. Not that we felt like we were taking a huge gamble on him, but you take a chance on them, and then the player comes in and kind of makes you look good. But we always appreciate that and to see it play out like this where he's going to be part of our core group for a long time is very satisfying, and really couldn't be happier.”

NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti and independent correspondent Harvey Valentine contributed to this report.