Lightning owner Oren Koules said Saturday night the Lightning has signed superstar center Vinny Lecavalier to an 11-year contract extension worth $85-million.

"This is a huge day for this organization," Koules said. "We're unbelievably proud."

Lecavalier has one year left on his current contract. With the 11-year extension, he is locked up until 2019-20, when he is 40 years old. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Koules said the extension will pay $10-million in salary and bonuses for the first seven years and then gradually decrease to $1-million in the final season. No matter the annual salaries, the salary cap hit will be $7.7-million, the average salary for the term of the contract.

"This is something we've talked about," Koules said. "There was never any hesitation from  either side. It has been the easiest negotiation for both sides. This is an organization that absolutely wanted him to be here forever. He wanted to know we wanted to win, and we talked about some things, and we feel we kept up our end of the bargain. He is very excited."

Obviously, more to come on Sunday. An official announcement is expected Tuesday at the St. Pete Times Forum.

"Vinny Lecavalier is a tremendous hockey player, but more importantly, a tremendous person," vice president of hockey operations, Brian Lawton said. "That's the kind of guy we're looking to move forward with in this organization for a long time."