One item of offseason business for Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen has been checked off.
Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo signed a two-year extension worth a total of $5.6 million on Friday afternoon ($2.8M AAV). Contract details were first reported by Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. Korpisalo was slated to be a restricted free agent at season's end.
Korpisalo will make $2.2 million next season (whenever that is) and $3.4 million (first season of UFA years) in 2021-22.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 17, 2020
AAV is $2.8 million.
This was a big year for Korpisalo, who saw rookie Elvis Merzlikins take the reins and run after he went down with a knee injury. That injury caused Korpisalo to miss the NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis, which was the first such nomination of his NHL career. This new contract would indicate that Korpisalo is a part of the Blue Jackets' goaltending picture going forward.
"Joonas had the opportunity to play a lot of games for us early in the season before he was injured and responded by playing at an All-Star level," Kekalainen said in a statement. "He is a young, talented goaltender with a great work ethic and desire to succeed and we are very excited to see his continued development and improvement moving forward."
Korpisalo, 26, set single-season career highs in 2019-20 in wins (19), GAA (2.60, tied), shutouts (2) and games played (37) in 2019-20.
