Goaltender Richard Bachman has made his decision on where he’ll be playing for the time being, signing with the Vancouver Canucks. Details for the contract are soon to come.
#Canucks sign goaltender @Bacher31. Release – http://t.co/BNS9St4E3q pic.twitter.com/iPSPUX7UJi
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) July 1, 2015
In our Top 10 NHL UFA Goaltenders 2015 article, written by Senior Editor Ken Hill, here’s what you need to know about Bachman:
Bachman is an undersized, and often unnoticed, goaltender who has quietly been making his way to the NHL for the past several seasons.
Last year, Bachman might have had the best season of his pro career. At the NHL level he only played in six games with Edmonton , though he did set a new career-best even strength save percentage (.938) on a porous Oilers squad. However, he was brilliant for the Oklahoma City Barons, posting a 2.38 GAA and a .911 SV% to earn a place in the 2015 AHL All-Star Game. In the post-season, Bachman turned it up a notch for OKC, stealing the starter’s job from Laurent Brossoit with a 1.55 GAA and a .953 SV% in nine games before losing a tight seven-game series to the Utica Comets.
At the age of 27 and searching for a new NHL deal, and with his brilliant play last season in the AHL, there’s a good chance a team will take a shot on him to provide some competition for the back-up job on their roster, a role that Bachman seems poised to finally assume.
