The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed AHL netminder Justus Annunen to a one-year two-way deal with a $775k cap hit and a $225k minor league salary.
Annunen, 23, took a strong step forward this past season with the Colorado Eagles, improving his save percentage from an .893 in his rookie AHL campaign to a .916 in 41 games this year.
The big six-foot-four goalie was a backup goalie for two seasons with Karpat in the Finnish Liiga before joining the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. In the AHL Annunen has acclimated himself to a far greater workload than what he received in Finland, and his form this past year is an encouraging sign for his NHL future in Colorado.
Incumbent backup netminder Pavel Francouz is 33 years old and will see his contract expire at the end of next season, so this one-year extension provides Annunen an excellent platform to make a push for an NHL number-two job in Denver.