Today the Russian national team announced the first round of players that have been invited to join Team Russia at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia. Six NHLers are are among the 18 players invited, with the most notable name to us, of course, being Ivan Provorov. You can read the full release here.
Provorov joins teammates Jakub Voracek, James van Riemsdyk, Carter Hart, and Sean Couturier on the list of Flyers confirmed to be playing in the tournament.
But back to the subject at hand, maybe the most intriguing note from the press release is one single sentence referring to Provorov and his current contract situation:
Defenseman Ivan Provorov will join the team after he signs a new contract with his club.
That’s certainly noteworthy considering the tournament starts next month, with the opening round beginning May 10th. Account for practice time and the “deadline” for his new deal to get done shrinks. We’ve been on Provorov contract watch for a while, but this news makes it sound like his extension is just around the corner.
Here’s an excerpt from last week when we discussed how good Provorov has actually been through the first three seasons of his career and what his next contract could be:
Last July we looked at what his next contract may be, and came up with three main, long-term options; six years with a $6.1M average annual value, seven years with a $6.7M AAV, or eight years with a $7.3M AAV. Now, while his ‘18-19 season certainly won’t help his agent in negotiations, it probably won’t hurt him that much either, thanks to Provorov’s reputation around the league.
So, what do you think will happen? Will they sign him long-term or sign him to a bridge deal? And at what cap hit? The one thing that we do know is that it seems likely that a deal will be announced within the next three weeks.
