Ilya Bryzgalov Signs with Anaheim Ducks

On Tuesday the Anaheim Ducks signed former Minnesota Wild goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a one-year, $2.88 million contract, according to Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register. With that contract, Bryzgalov returns to the team where his career started and where he won a Stanley Cup in 2007. He was waived the fall after he won the Cup and picked up by the then Phoenix Coyotes.

Wild fans have used Bryzgalov as their go-to argument any time the goaltending hasn’t been solid enough in Minnesota — which has been a little too frequently lately — but there was very little chance the Wild were going to bring in a fourth goaltender on a NHL contract, especially knowing how much Bryzgalov is costing the Ducks.

Bryzgalov’s contract, signed with over a quarter of the season behind us, dwarfs the briefly maligned $1.25M contract that Darcy Kuemper battled for over the summer. Makes it seem kind of silly that Wild fans turned Kuemper into a scapegoat for wanting what was ultimately a pretty modest deal.

Importantly for the Ducks, Bryzgalov’s contract will be the biggest goaltender contract on the team. His salary will be larger than that of Frederik Andersen, John Gibson, and Jason LaBarbera combined. All three goaltenders have played at the NHL level this year.

The 34-year-old goaltender was called in on a professional tryout with the Ducks battling a number of goaltender issues. Andersen has missed some time this year. Gibson remains out until at least the end of December. LaBarbera will be sidelined for another couple weeks. They currently have Igor Bobkov called up from AHL Norfolk, but haven’t felt confident enough to give him a start yet.

This may make for a tricky situation come January, as the Ducks believe that Gibson is their goaltender of the future, but he may need to be sent back to Norfolk with how the situation sits right now and just get a lot of starts, hoping to come back as the number one next season.

Bryz is the third player from last year’s Wild roster that’s now playing for Anaheim. Clayton Stoner and Dany Heatley are the other two. The Ducks and the Wild will play one more time this season, on March 13 in St. Paul. The Ducks have won the previous two games this season.