The Calgary Flames took care of some housekeeping on Monday, signing goaltender Artyom Zagidulin to a one-year contract extension.
It is a two-way deal that carries a $700,000 base salary in the NHL and a $125,000 salary at the AHL level, per CapFriendly.com.
While his NHL salary is actually lower than a year ago, Zagidulin is set to make $55,000 more in Stockton during the 2020-21 season; a solid trade off considering he seems destined for steady AHL duty.
Zagidulin’s debut season in Stockton was a mixed bag, to say the least. He posted a solid 16-7-4 record while splitting the net with Jon Gillies. That’s the good news.
The bad news is he didn’t exactly stop pucks at a high clip. Zagidulin posted an .898 save percentage over 30 games. That was ‘good’ for 40th among 49 qualified goaltenders, and well below what Gillies put up (.907 SV%).
Zagidulin’s ceiling doesn’t appear overly high but I’m not surprised to see him get a new deal. He is only 24 so there is still some runway for him. David Rittich posted a .889 SV% in the AHL at 25 – albeit over a smaller sample – afterall.
There’s also the fact Rittich is the only other pro goaltender under contract for next season.
Cam Talbot needs a new deal and could seek a raise, or more opportunity, in free agency. Former highly touted prospects Tyler Parsons, and Jon Gillies, are without contracts and don’t have much of a future. Meanwhile, I don’t think Nick Schneider has shown enough to earn even an AHL contract.
Keeping Zagidulin in the organization as the No. 3/4 ensures GM Brad Treliving doesn’t have to sign any and every goaltender he can get his hands on this off-season.
If Zagidulin has another ‘meh’ campaign, they can walk away knowing Dustin Wolf is making the jump to pro hockey.
stats via capfriendly.com, hockeydb.com, and theahl.com. Recent posts: