A day after being bought out by the Vancouver Canucks, former Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Dallas Stars. He has a repertoire of hats that will make him fit in immediately.
Holtby, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2016, will serve as the backup to Anton Khudobin. Khudobin, after leading the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, went 12-11-7 with a 2.54 GAA and .905 save percentage last season.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta was the first to report the deal. Darren Dreger later confirmed the signing and The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report Holtby’s salary.
Braden Holtby is signing with Dallas for 1-year
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) July 28, 2021
“We are excited to add Braden to our goaltending group,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said in a release. “We’re looking forward to Braden giving us the elite goaltending that he’s shown he’s capable of throughout his career. He has won every major award a goaltender can win and we are thrilled that a person of his pedigree is joining our organization.”
Holtby’s signing in Dallas continues a whirlwind offseason for the beardy goaltender.
Holtby was left unprotected in the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft after the Vancouver Canucks could not find a trade partner the 2018 Stanley Cup champion. Holtby’s salary ($5.7 million) and cap hit of $4.3 million for the 2021-22 season was too much for other cap-strapped teams to take on without Vancouver retaining part of Holtby’s salary. So Vancouver bought him out.
Goaltender Ben Bishop remains in Dallas but didn’t play at all last season after tearing his meniscus. He will start next season on long-term injured reserve.
Ben Bishop to begin season on LTIR
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) July 28, 2021
The Stars officially announced the signing at 12:30 PM.
HOLTS on, this just in ‼️
We have signed Braden Holtby to a 1-year contract through the 2021-22 season.
📝 https://t.co/ZW1MOl8IFS pic.twitter.com/ft87DgYMZF
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) July 28, 2021
Here’s the Stars full press release:
Stars sign goaltender Braden Holtby to one-year contract
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has signed goaltender Braden Holtby to a one-year, $2,000,000 contract.
Holtby, 31, recorded a 7-11-3 record in 21 regular-season games played, all starts, with Vancouver in 2020-21. He finished the season with a 3.67 goals against average and a .889 save percentage.
The veteran of 11 NHL seasons, and a Stanley Cup champion in 2018, has appeared in 489 career regular-season games for Washington and Vancouver, posting a 289-133-49 record with a .915 SV% and 2.58 GAA. His 35 shutouts since he entered the League in 2010-11 are ninth-most among all goalies, and since taking over as started in 2012-13, his 32 shutouts are tied for sixth-most along with Ben Bishop. In 97 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests, he has a 50-46-1 record with a 2.13 GAA, a .926 SV% and seven shutouts.
He has appeared in the last five NHL All-Star Games spanning from 2016-2020, and he was named as a First Team NHL All-Star in 2015-16 and a Second Team NHL All-Star in 2016-17. In 2015-16, he was named the Vezina Trophy winner, given to the player adjudged to be the best at his position, and he helped the Capitals earn the 2016-17 William M. Jennings Trophy, which is given to the goaltender(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it.
“We are excited to add Braden to our goaltending group,” said Nill. “We’re looking forward to Braden giving us the elite goaltending that he’s shown he’s capable of throughout his career. He has won every major award a goaltender can win and we are thrilled that a person of his pedigree is joining our organization.”
The 6-foot-2, 214-pound native of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan was originally selected by Washington in the fourth round (93rd overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft. He was signed as a free agent by Vancouver on Oct. 9, 2020.
