LAS VEGAS – The Golden Knights signed defenseman Shea Theodore to a seven-year contract extension on Thursday. The deal has an average annual value of $7.425 million.

Theodore, one of only three Golden Knights players remaining from the 2017 expansion draft, is now under contract with Vegas through the 2031-32 season. He has served as an anchor on the blue line since Day 1 with the Golden Knights, leading all defensemen in franchise history with 296 points in 450 games.

Theodore, 29, was headed to unrestricted free agency after this season and likely would have commanded a higher AAV on the open market. At just under $7.5 million per season, he should be a good value for the Golden Knights, at least for the first few seasons of the new deal. However, he will be 37 years old in the final year of his contract.

He is off to an excellent start to the 2024-25 season with seven points (one goal and six assists) in six games, which puts him fourth in the NHL among defensemen. Theodore is an excellent skater and puck mover, who fuels Vegas’ dangerous transition attack. He also quarterbacks the top power-play unit, operating at a 36.8 percent clip, fourth-best in the league.

With this extension, the Golden Knights have now invested a lot of cap space in the blue line. Vegas had already signed Alex Pietrangelo to an AAV of $8.8 million for the 2026-27 season and Noah Hanifin to an AAV of $7.35 million for the 2031-32 season. And Vegas had already allocated the fifth-highest percentage of its cap to defensemen this season. That figure will be even higher next year.

That said, it is one of the best and deepest defensive groups in the NHL, and it was one of the biggest reasons why the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023. This keeps the top three defenders locked up for the foreseeable future.

Required reading

(Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA Today)