Senators re-sign goalie
The Ottawa Senators got another piece of business off the books.
With training camp set to open Sept. 22 at the Canadian Tire Centre, the Senators signed restricted free-agent goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a two-year deal Sunday.
The deal is worth US$750,000 in the NHL in the first year and has an AHL salary of $125,000. It switches to a one-way deal in the second year and Gustavsson will make $825,000 in 2022-23.
Getting a deal done with Gustavsson is another important piece of work done by general manager Pierre Dorion. The club still has to sign restricted free agent forwards Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Logan Brown.
“We were very pleased with Filip's performance last season,” Dorion said on Sunday. “After spending the early part of the year playing in Sweden, it was evident to us that he is committed to continually improve his overall game. He's someone we regard as a high-end talent and we're looking forward to seeing his progress in 2021-22.”
Gustavsson was acquired in the deal that sent centre Derrick Brassard to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade deadline in 2018. Drafted No. 55 overall by the Penguins in 2016, he has spent the last three seasons with Ottawa's AHL affiliate in Belleville and when 2019-20 was paused, Gustavsson was in a battle for playing time with Joey Daccord.
Gustavsson felt that coming into last season he had to earn a second contract and he certainly achieved that goal.
What he did was force the Senators to hold onto him and protect him from the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft in July. The Senators would have protected Joey Daccord before last season got under way, but the way Gustavsson performed left the club with no choice but to protect him.
Gustavsson finished with a 5-1-2 record with a .933 save percentage and a 2.16 goalsagainst average down the stretch and helped the Senators have a successful finish to what was a difficult season.
He came up when the club was without the injured Matt Murray, Anton Forsberg, Marcos Hogberg and Daccord and there were no expectations. Gustavsson had never shown he could play at the NHL level but he was never given the opportunity, either.
Gustavsson would have been eligible to file for arbitration after this season, so this takes that option off the table because he could be the club's full-time backup in the second year of the deal.
Sometimes a change is better than a rest and, perhaps, a change of scenery before the NHL season started last year in January did Gustavsson a lot of good.
He suited up for Sodertalje SK in the second division of the Swedish league to start the year and had success. He left there with a 11-7-0 record and .919 save percentage.
The reality is, Gustavsson will likely play in Belleville next season while Forsberg is the backup in Ottawa. Forsberg signed a one-year extension after being picked up on waivers but that doesn't mean Gustavsson won't get a chance to play here because there's going to be injuries.
Of course, all eyes will now be on Tkachuk and Batherson. As noted in this space earlier this week, talks between Dorion and agents from both camps continue as they try to get extensions in place.