As per a tweet from Thrashers' web guy Ben Wright from the Blueland Blog, the Thrashers have signed their All-Star defenseman Dustin Byfuglien to a multi-year contract extension. Terms, as per team policy, have not been released yet. When they're up on capgeek.com I will post them within this stream.
Byfuglien leads the Thrashers with 42 points on the season, and at one point this season before his 13 game pointless streak, he led all league defensemen in scoring. He is tied with the team lead in goals with captain Andrew Ladd at 17 goals. This year he was selected with his defensive partner Tobias Enstrom for his first All-Star Game. Enstrom was unable to attend due to a broken foot, but Byfuglien scored a goal in the game for Team Lidstrom, and came in third in the fastest shot competition with a shot clocked at 101.3 MPH.
Buff is currently in his last season of a three year deal giving him $3,000,000 a season. This deal was inked before his explosive run in last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs. Byfuglien had eleven goals and five assists in twenty two games in the playoffs. So far this season he is just two goals shy of his career high of nineteen, and has set career marks with twenty six assists and forty three points.
Craig Custance of the Sporting News has the deal being for five years at around $5 million per season.