Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins locked up Arturs Silovs on a one-year, $2.8 million deal.
That's a significant raise from the $850,000 he carried this past season on his previous contract.
Silovs played 39 games for Pittsburgh, going 14-11 with a .887 save percentage and two shutouts.
A .887 clip isn't the kind of number that usually earns a raise. But Kyle Dubas clearly sees something worth keeping.
Sergei Murashov sat behind him for most of the year, appearing in five games with a .897 save percentage and one shutout of his own.
Murashov is only 22 and still on an entry-level scale, carrying a cap hit of $861,110.
The Penguins finished the season 41-25-16, good for 98 points and a plus-25 goal differential, tenth overall in the league.
Kyle Dubas just bet $2.8 million on a below-.890 goalie
They dropped their last three games of the year, capped by a 5-7 loss on the road against the Blues on April 14.
Here's the thing. Paying starter money to a goalie who finished south of .890 is a gamble, not a sure thing.
Dan Muse inherits a crease question heading into next season, and this contract says the answer is Silovs, at least for now.
Murashov's numbers over five appearances were better on a rate basis, and that gap doesn't just disappear because a bigger paycheck got signed.
Would a strong training camp be enough to flip the pecking order? Dubas just made that a much harder case to make.
Pittsburgh's defense allowed 268 goals against across the season, and whoever wins the net gets to wear that number too.
For now, the Penguins are paying Silovs like a starter. Whether he plays like one is the next thing to watch.
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Did Kyle Dubas make the right call extending Arturs Silovs over Sergei Murashov?
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