Anderson Signs Big Contract

The last-place Ottawa Senators have signed goalie Craig Anderson to a four-year, $12.75 million contract.

Anderson was acquired Feb. 18 in a trade with Colorado. He also has played for Chicago and Florida. With the Senators, he is 6-4-1 with one shutout, a .938 save percentage and 2.11 goals-against average.

Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray said Monday the 29-year-old goalie has brought "stability" to the Senators, and goaltending is crucial "if you're going to rebuild, retool this team."

Anderson would have been eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. He will earn $2.75 million next season, $3 million in 2012-13 and $3.5 million in the final two years of the deal, which extends his current contract.

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=556721#&navid=nhl-search

All Star Game Goalie Skating Race

2011 NHL All-Star Fan Balloting after six weeks

*write-in candidate

Goaltenders


Marc-Andre Fleury Pittsburgh 311,623

*Carey Price Montreal 309,598

*Sergei Bobrovsky Philadelphia 237,575

Tim Thomas Boston 139,182

Jaroslav Halak St. Louis 117,151

*Jimmy Howard Detroit 116,503

Ryan Miller Buffalo 94,206

Cam Ward Carolina 76,594

Henrik Lundqvist NY Rangers 67,450

Roberto Luongo Vancouver 67,375

Jonathan Quick Los Angeles 64,906

Antti Niemi San Jose 48,801

Craig Anderson Colorado 33,466

*Michal Neuvirth Washington 33,254

*Marty Turco Chicago 31,512

*Corey Crawford Chicago 30,800

Jean-Sebastien Giguere Toronto 25,647

Martin Brodeur New Jersey 24,096

Miikka Kiprusoff Calgary 20,642

Ilya Bryzgalov Phoenix 19,274

Niklas Backstrom Minnesota 16,279

Pekka Rinne Nashville 15,607

*Jonas Hiller Anaheim 14,033

*Antero Niittymaki San Jose 11,942

*Semyon Varlamov Washington 10,461

*Kari Lehtonen Dallas 9,846

Nikolai Khabibulin Edmonton 8,861

*Jonas Gustavsson Toronto 8,725

*Ondrej Pavelec Atlanta 7,985

Tomas Vokoun Florida 7,013

Carey Price playing at a high level for Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens rolled the dice by trading playoff hero Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis during the summer. Thus far, Carey Price is making their gamble pay off.

Halak is playing superbly in St. Louis -- but Price is playing the kind of hockey the Canadiens expected of him when they made him the fifth pick in the 2005 Entry Draft. He earned his 10th victory of the season on Saturday with a 28-save performance in a 7-2 victory against Carolina.

The win capped a week that saw Price go 3-0-0 while outplaying Roberto Luongo in a 2-0 victory against Vancouver and a 34-save performance in a 3-1 win at Boston. After barely making the playoffs, the Canadiens are on top in the Northeast Division, and Price is the biggest reason why.

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Tim Thomas and Jaroslav Halak making things Tough on Shooters

What's the toughest thing to do in the NHL right now? Is it getting a puck past Tim Thomas? Or it could be turning on the red light behind Jaroslav Halak?

Who's better? That could be answered (at least for now) Saturday in Boston, where the two could be at opposite ends of the ice when Halak and the Blues come to TD Garden for a game against Thomas and the Bruins.

It's hard to argue with the performance of either goaltender so far

Thomas already has made history by becoming the first Boston goaltender to start the season by going 7-0-0 -- he outdid Tiny Thompson, who started 6-0-0 in 1937-38 before playing to a pair of ties. More amazing is the fact that Thomas didn't even begin the season as the Bruins' No. 1 goaltender. Tuukka Rask took away Thomas' starting job last season and got the opening-day start against Phoenix. But after Rask surrendered four goals in a 5-2 loss, Thomas got the call in Game 2, responded with a 3-0 victory and has spent the next four weeks looking like Jacques Plante, Glenn Hall, Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur rolled into one.

Consider this: Thomas didn't allow as many as two goals in a game until Wednesday, when Buffalo got a pair in Boston's 5-2 victory. The second-period power-play goal by the Sabres' Drew Stafford was the first man-advantage goal allowed by Thomas all season. In all, he's surrendered just five goals -- giving him a goals-against average of 0.72. He's faced 220 shots and stopped 215, a .977 save percentage (Rask led the NHL last season at .931).

Were it not for Thomas, Halak might well be the talk of the NHL.

Halak was a playoff hero for Montreal this past spring, but with Carey Price also in the fold, the Canadiens opted to send Halak to St. Louis. All he's done is go 7-1-1 in his first eight games with the Blues, including 6-0-0 at home, while putting up a 1.53 GAA and a .940 save percentage (14 goals allowed on 232 shots). He's second to Thomas among starting goaltenders in GAA, third in save percentage. The two are even with seven wins and a League-leading three shutouts.

Home cooking -- Perhaps the biggest difference Halak has made to the Blues is their play at home. The Blues are 6-0-0 at Scottrade Center this season, and Halak has been in goal for all six games -- including two shutouts. The Blues needed to win their last six home games last season just to finish at 18-18-5.

The 12 consecutive home wins (including last season) is a franchise record. The 6-0-0 mark at the beginning of the current season leaves the Blues five short of Chicago's record of 11 consecutive home victories at the start of a season, set in 1963-64.

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Halak, Very Important to Blues

The Blues' big summer splash was the trade that brought Halak to St. Louis. The Slovak goalie was Montreal's playoff hero in the spring, leading the eighth-seeded Habs to improbable series wins over Washington and Pittsburgh. He was deemed expendable, though, because Montreal's management believes Carey Price is that club's goalie of the future.

Halak didn't come without a price. St. Louis had to sacrifice its top forward prospect, Lars Eller, as well as promising right wing Ian Schultz. The Blues also parted ways with Mason as a result of the Halak trade. Mason wound up signing with Atlanta.

Halak, who was a restricted free agent, agreed to a four-year contract extension July 6 that reportedly will pay him $3.75 million annually. He went 26-13-5 last season. His .924 save percentage was fourth in the NHL and his 2.40 goals-against average was ninth. Halak also won a pair of Game 7s on the road, in Washington and Pittsburgh.

Halak is set as the No. 1, but he has a nice warm blanket behind him in Ty Conklin, one of the top backup goalies in the NHL over the last couple seasons. Conklin won 10 games last season and posted a 2.48 GAA and .921 save percentage.

The Blues' brass believes Halak could start between 55 and 60 games this season (he started a career-high 43 last season), with Conklin filling in the rest. That looks to be the perfect amount of work for each goalie as Conklin stayed fresh last season with 21 starts and 26 appearances.

"I think we have one of the best goaltending combinations in the game," Blues GM Doug Armstrong told the Post-Dispatch.

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Jose Theodore With Minnesota Wild

In nine years of existence, the Minnesota Wild has had just 10 goaltenders start a game. That includes four that played a game last year. Goaltending has always been a strength for the young franchise, because it always featured an experienced and talented tandem.

Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson. Fernandez and Niklas Backstrom. Backstrom and Josh Harding.

The Wild's goaltending tandem looks formidable again. The Wild lost Harding to a devastating knee injury early in the preseason, but picked up the owner of a Hart and Vezina trophy, and the winner of 30 games in 47 appearances last year with Washington.

Jose Theodore agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the Wild today, and will join the Houston Aeros training camp until the Wild returns from Finland. Anton Khudobin will serve as Nik Backstrom's backup while the team is in Europe.

"Jose's a veteran who's won 245 games in the NHL," said General Manager Chuck Fletcher in a hotel lobby in Helsinki. "We're fortunate he was still available. He makes us a deeper team and we have a terrific one-two punch again."

Theodore ranks sixth among active goalies in games played (518) and wins. His best year came in 2002 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens, when he went 30-24-10 with a .931 save percentage and a 2.11 goals against average, earning him the Hart and the Vezina.

Wild fans are no stranger to Theodore, who posted a 2.81 goals against average and a .911 save percentage last year. In 2008, he was brilliant in leading the Colorado Avalanche to a first round upset of Minnesota, which had won its first-ever Northwest Division title.

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