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The NHL goaltending enterprise is a fickle one. In a single market, you may win a Vezina Trophy because the world’s high netminder and be traded out of city a yr later. In one other, you might be plucked from one other squad, see your workload rocket up and earn an extended deal.
These are the instances for former Boston Bruin and present Ottawa Senators goalie Linus Ullmark and present Seattle Kraken Joey Daccord, who each agreed to contract extensions on Wednesday.
For Ullmark, who received the Vezina in 2022-23, touchdown a contract extension reveals the Sens’ want for stability in internet for the primary time since Craig Anderson performed for them. And contemplating the four-year, $33-million deal he got out of Ottawa management, Ullmark shouldn’t lack confidence as he begins this season.
The brand new deal, which begins within the 2025-26 marketing campaign, bumps his common annual wage from $5 million to $8.25 million. It reveals, for higher or worse, that Senators GM Steve Staios wasn’t shy about throwing out one other contract after the frustration that was the five-year, $20-million deal former GM Pierre Dorion gave to Joonas Korpisalo, the netminder Ullmark was traded for this summer time.
Like Ullmark, the 30-year-old Korpisalo hadn’t performed a sport for the Senators when he was signed off the UFA market. And as everyone knows by now, Korpisalo was a bust in his solely season with Ottawa, as he posted an .890 save proportion and three.27 goals-against common in 55 appearances. The Senators have been lucky Boston took Korpisalo off their palms, as they have been on the lookout for an skilled backup to star No. 1 goalie Jeremy Swayman. And now, each Ullmark and Korpsialo are getting a recent starting with a brand new staff.
In the meantime, in Seattle, the 28-year-old Daccord landed a five-year, $25-million contract extension Wednesday regardless of enjoying solely 69 regular-season video games on the NHL stage. The Senators left Daccord unprotected within the Kraken enlargement draft, and Seattle’s huge funding in him suggests it could not have made a better option on the time.
Daccord generated a career-best .916 SP and a pair of.46 GAA in 50 appearances final season with the Kraken, which is greater than double the variety of NHL video games he performed within the 5 seasons beforehand. His new deal places the writing on the wall for presumptive Seattle starter Philipp Grubauer, who has by no means put up a save proportion higher than .899 in any of his three seasons with the Kraken whereas carrying a $5.9-million annual wage.
That mentioned, the 32-year-old Grubauer has this season and one other two campaigns to play with Seattle, so starting subsequent yr, the Kraken can be shelling out almost $11 million for his or her goaltending. There may very well be a contract buyout down the road for Grubauer, however Kraken GM Ron Francis clearly desires Daccord to really feel like his future is solidified with Seattle, and Daccord’s new contract delivers that message in an unmistakable method.
Each Ullmark and Daccord weren’t the NHL’s finest at their positions this previous season, however for groups that strongly wanted persistently robust netminding, the 2 of them had sufficient leverage to demand hefty paydays from the Senators and Kraken, respectively. Time will inform whether or not the funding made in them was a savvy transfer or a mistake on administration’s behalf, however for the second, Daccord and Ullmark have had the staff’s religion in them underscored.
It’s worthwhile to present your GM you’ve acquired the potential to thrive earlier than they pour cash into you as a key asset, and Ullmark and Daccord have completed that. But it surely stays a major gamble to throw huge cash and long run at your netminder, and there’s an actual danger that one or each of those new offers might flip bitter and trigger purchaser’s remorse.
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