Scratch Anton Forsberg off the list of possible trade candidates from Ottawa. Instead, the Senators announced that they’ve signed the netminder to a three-year extension. The deal carries a cap hit of $2.75MM with a breakdown as follows:
2022-23: $2.55MM
2023-24: $2.95MM
2024-25: $2.75MM
The 29-year-old has certainly found a home in Ottawa. After being claimed on waivers three separate times last season, Forsberg did well enough in limited action down the stretch to earn a modest one-year, $900K extension, a decent reward for someone that had bounced around as much as he had. The hope was that he’d battle for the backup spot behind Matt Murray this season but Forsberg has certainly outperformed that contract.
This season, Forsberg has played in 31 games (29 starts), posting a 2.77 GAA along with a .918 SV% that’s well above the league average. As a result, that made him one of the more interesting trade candidates if Ottawa was open to moving him, especially with his cap hit being low enough for most contenders to afford. Instead, they’ve decided to commit to him, tripling his price tag in the process.
With Forsberg signed for three more years and Murray under contract for two more seasons, it appears as if the Senators have their goalie tandem intact for a little while. That will call into question the future of Filip Gustavsson. Once regarded as a possible goalie of the future for Ottawa, the 23-year-old has struggled considerably with the Sens this season and has a save percentage of just .886 along with a 3.78 GAA. He’s waiver-eligible next season so a decision will need to be made on his future over the coming months.
Not at all a bad deal.