A bargain price on a thin résumé
The Anaheim Ducks signed center Tim Washe to a four-year contract extension on September 19, 2026, a deal Elliotte Friedman reported at a $2.25 million cap hit and $9 million total.
On paper, that is a lot of term for a player with 41 career NHL games. Washe, 25, has two goals and five points in those 41 appearances with a minus-6 rating and 11:50 of average ice time. The extension carries him to age 30, buying out what would have been his prime unrestricted years on a sample smaller than half a season.
What the $2.25M actually pays for
The case for the deal is not scoring. Washe won 58.0 percent of his faceoffs in 2025-26, second among NHL rookies and first on the Ducks, and he threw 95 hits in 41 games. Anaheim dressed him in all 12 of its playoff games that spring, a run that beat Edmonton in the first round before Vegas ended it in the Western Conference semifinals. Playoff trust from a coaching staff is worth real money, and $2.25 million sits below what established fourth-line centers with 500 games command.
The risk is that 41 games is a small window to judge a defensive center. If the faceoff rate holds and the skating translates, the Ducks own a cost-controlled piece through his prime. If his role shrinks under a new coach, the final two years of the deal age badly on a cap sheet that also has to fit a young core.
Undrafted to NHL regular in 18 months
Washe signed with Anaheim in April 2025 as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan, days after captaining the Broncos to their first national championship with 16 goals and 38 points in 42 games. He opened 2025-26 as an AHL All-Star with the San Diego Gulls, 14 goals and 27 points in 36 games, before sticking with the Ducks for 39 regular-season games.
The club confirmed the four-year term in its announcement; only the dollar figure came from Friedman’s report. The full structure, including the start year, has not been disclosed.