McDonald’s brings back “the Hamburglar” and Andrew Hammond signs an extension in the same month. Coincidence?
Breaking: #Sens agree to terms with goaltender Andrew Hammond on a three-year contract extension
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 20, 2015
The 27-year old goaltender had a ride for the ages in 2014-15, being one of the key cogs that turned the Ottawa Senators’ season around. When he made his first career start on February 18th against the Canadiens, the team was 22-23-10, a long shot to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hammond won that start, and proceeded to win 19 more games, finishing the season at 20-1-3 with a 1.79 GAA and .941 save percentage. He didn’t lose in regulation for 15 starts until the New York Rangers solved him on March 26th in a 5-1 loss. He would grab 6 of 7 victories and 13 of 14 possible points the rest of the way. More importantly, the Senators saw their record skyrocket to 43-26-13 to finish the season in a playoff spot as the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Playoffs were a different story for Hammond however, as he lost back-to-back games in Montreal to begin the series, giving up seven goals in two games, and veteran Craig Anderson stole the starting job from him for the rest of the series.
The average annual value of Hammond’s extension is $1.35M ($1.2M, $1.35M, $1.5M)
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 20, 2015
The hit doesn’t hurt the Senators financially, but the term is what is interesting. The Sens have Craig Anderson, Andrew Hammond, and Robin Lehner under contract for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. Lehner and Anderson each signed three-year extensions last offseason.
The Hamburglar move may be one that leads to one of those netminders being shipped out.
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