Simon Despres, Ducks Agree to New Contract: Latest Details and Reaction

The Anaheim Ducks announced Friday that they signed defenseman Simon Despres to a five-year extension. 

Here is their tweet revealing the completion of the deal:

According to Scott Lewis of Sportsnet, the deal is worth $18.5 million and will carry an annual cap hit of $3.7 million. ESPN's Pierre LeBrun broke down Despres' new deal:

The Ducks acquired Despres at the 2015 trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Ben Lovejoy. The 24-year-old's previous deal was set to expire at the end of the 2015-16 season, per Spotrac.com. 

Last season was the first time in Despres' career that he played a full season, having never appeared in more than 34 games in three previous campaigns. But in his stints with both Pittsburgh and Anaheim, he proved that he can be a serviceable defender, with career highs in goals (3), assists (20) and plus-minus rating (plus-11) in 2014-15.

That kind of play gave him the opportunity to start this season as a "bona fide top-four defenseman," according to the Orange County Register's Eric Stephens.

A defenseman who performs well with the puck on his stick, Despres is the kind of blueliner who can help facilitate the offense with his skating and passing ability. With the likes of Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, who can put pucks in the net, Despres' presence could help find even more scoring opportunities.

More importantly, his defensive game will continue to help the Ducks shut down their opponents. On a second defensive pairing alongside Cam Fowler, behind Hampus Lindholm and Kevin Bieksa, Anaheim has a deep defensive unit with a nice blend of youth and experience that will provide plenty of resistance in front of Frederik Andersen's goal. 

Stats courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com