Tampa just committed $159.6M in about 8 minutes to top players!

The Tampa Bay Lightning really wanted to keep defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and made sure he simply couldn’t decline the team’s offer.

On Wednesday, his agent Dan Milstein confirmed his client has signed an eight-year max extension with the Lightning. Per insider Chris Johnston, the 24-year-old defenseman will make $8.5 million a season.

Sergachev will be Tampa's highest paid defenseman starting in 2023-24.

In 2017, Victor Hedman signed a 8 year / $63,000,000 contract with the Lightning, including $63,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $7,875,000. In 2022-23, Hedman will earn a base salary of $8,000,000, while carrying a cap hit of $7,875,000.

Sergachev’s extension came moments after it was announced that the Bolts had also inked blue liner Ian Cole to a new deal.

But Tampa Bay was not done. Per Bob McKenzie, Anthony Cirelli has also signed an eight-year extension with the team, this time worth $6.25MM per season, while Erik Cernak has also inked an eight-year extension. His will be worth $5.2MM per season.