It’s not often that you see 32-year-old NHL veterans with career highs of 16 goals and 36 points getting a contract extension of $5 million per season on a five-year deal.
But the guy who got one on Wednesday – Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry – is well worth the raise from his current salary of $3.25 million.
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“The biggest thing that came to mind is he’s earned everything’s he’s gotten,” Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey told reporters on Friday. “Nothing was handed to him. He’s done it the right way every single day all through that period of time. For him to get that contract, you’re just absolutely excited for him.”
Generating offense is not Lowry’s strong suit. But you’re not getting his signature on this contract extension because you want him winning the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. You choose to keep him happy financially for all the other value he brings.
First of all, you choose to sign Lowry to his new extension because he’s the leader in the dressing room. That’s what the ‘C’ on his jersey tells you. But it’s also about Lowry’s consistent professionalism that sets the standard for the organization. He’s an example you want all your young players to follow, and his experience navigating the highs and lows of hockey’s top league is invaluable when you want a professional tone established for the team.
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“It’s great to have a leader like him like (Scheifele), like (Morrissey) that when you’re not in the room, you know we’re talking the same language, we’re demanding the sort of same thing from our group,” Jets coach Scott Arniel told reporters. “And Adam’s been both on and off the ice, he’s taken a lot of pride in being the captain of the Winnipeg Jets, with his play, with his leadership, with his community work, just everything he does, he’s such a caring person, and he’s certainly helped us in a lot of areas with that leadership.”
Adam Lowry (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)
Lowry’s extension is also about his expert skills as a defender and penalty-killer.
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He’s currently the Jets’ most-used forward on the PK, averaging 2:25 of ice time. Arniel trusts Lowry implicitly, and he’s been able to help the team have the sixth-best penalty-kill rate in the NHL heading into Friday’s action. If he chips in with a few goals and points along the way, that’s gravy.
But the Jets are paying other players heaps of money to generate goals and assists. They just need Lowry to not be scored on, and he delivers in a way where Winnipeg’s goalies should be thanking him.
Finally, you re-sign Lowry because it sends a message to every player in the organization. And that message is this: if you do what’s asked of you, team ownership and management are going to value you. Not every player can be paid at the high end of the pay scale, but if you do your job, you’re going to be rewarded for it. And it’s helped the squad keep some important players, such as Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor and more.
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“It’s a testament to Mark (Chipman) and the ownership group, the management, just the way they treat us as people, the way they try and give us every resource possible to be successful” Lowry said to the media.
Lowry can now go back to business knowing that, absent some competitive catastrophe, he’s very likely to be a Jet for life. He’s got 782 regular-season games under his belt, so he’ll be a 1,000-game NHLer soon enough. And he’s very likely to do all of it with the same team. That’s a terrific feat, and Winnipeg fans should feel good that Lowry’s extension will keep him around through the 2030-31 campaign. He’s earned it.
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