Islanders sign Pulock to 2-year pact reportedly worth $10M

The New York Islanders and stalwart defenseman Ryan Pulock came to terms on a two-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.

The deal carries an annual cap hit of $5 million, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. The structure of the contract is $3.34 million in the first year and $6.66 million in the second year, Friedman added.

Pulock was scheduled to have an arbitration hearing Friday.

The 6-foot-2, 217-pound blue-liner led all Isles in ice time last season, averaging 22:24 per game. He also led the team's defensemen with 35 points.

The analytics show he's one of the better five-on-five rearguards in the league, according to Charting Hockey's Sean Tierney.

Ryan Pulock is legitimately great at 5v5 and deserves to be paid like a top-pair DEF. But the special teams numbers catch the eye -- I guess you gamble on growth or just give away the top PP/PK unit duties and run him with heavy usage at 5v5. pic.twitter.com/0NVTsqbORq

- Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) October 26, 2020

The 26-year-old was chosen 15th overall by New York in the 2013 draft.

The Islanders are not out of the woods yet. The team only has $3.9 million remaining in projected cap space, according to CapFriendly, and still needs to sign its last restricted free agent: phenom Mathew Barzal.

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