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The end of season awards saw Connor Hellebuyck win the Vezina, as well as being named to the All Star team. His 70GP, 44Wins, with .921% and 2.62GA, along with 6 Shutouts saw him named the best netminder in the NHL. His contract expires at the end of next season, and at 30 years old, he isn't showing signs of a decline yet.
Free agency saw us go shopping for a few players to improve the D Line, as well as a couple of prospects who may have fallen by the wayside from other teams in the NHL.
First in, having been released by the Wild, was Matt Dumba. The right shot D will fit in well on the first pair with Ty Smith (unless another D becomes available), and also will allow us to move Olli Maatta on, as his near $4m a year to play on the 3rd pairing is a bit high.
Maatta was moved on to Arizona along with a couple of draft picks, with Jakob Chychrun heading the other way.
As a result of Chychrun coming in, Marcus Pettersson became surplus to my requirements, a trade was sorted with Pittsburgh, who gave up Nathan Bolduc in return.
In terms of contracts, Hellebuyck signed a $49m 5 year deal, taking him to 35 years of age, Mark Scheifele signed a $38m 6 year deal, and Owen Power a 3 year $8.5m deal after his initial entry level one.
Also coming in, was Detroits 2018 3rd round pick, Jesper Eliasson, the 23 year old had been a regular in the SHL for HV71, securing the Playoff MVP, FIrst Star Goalie, SHL Best Goalie, all as his team won the Swedish Championship and the Champions Hockey League. He moves to North America for the first time in his career on the back of this, to play as backup to Hellebuyck.
The moves, especially with the new defensive additions, saw the prospective ranking of the team, especially defensively, improve from what it was before.
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