The Arizona Coyotes have signed unrestricted free agent goalie Carter Hutton to a one-year contract worth $750,000 per season. This contract carries him through the 2021-22 season. Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff first reported the news.
Hutton with #Yotes: 1 year x $750k
@DFOHockey @Sportsnet
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 28, 2021
Arizona Signs Carter Hutton
Over his nine-year NHL career, Hutton has played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres. He has a career record of 94 wins, 88 losses and 27 overtime losses. The Thunder Bay, Ontario has a career goals-against-average of 2.71 and save percentage of .909. Hutton also has 13 career shutouts in his nearly decade-long career.
He signed as an undrafted free agent out of the UMass-Lowell program in the NCAA. Hutton was an All Hockey East Conference second team goalie in the 2009-10 season. He signed with the Philadelphia Flyers out of college.
The 35-year-old had a down season last year with the Sabres with a 1-10-1 record. He had a 3.47 goals-against-average and an .886 save percentage. He only appeared in 13 games last season in an injury-riddled and crowded Sabres crease.
His best season was in the 2013-14 season when he took over for Pekka Rinne that campaign. The Finnish netminder was out of action most the season due to a hip infection.
What This Means for the Future
Hutton will get a fresh start in the Southwest with a Coyotes team also in a rebuild. He likely won’t have to carry the ball too much, but he can fill in for a few starts. He’ll likely be the second goalie behind Darcy Kuemper. However, he may get called into the net more if Kuemper does get traded to a contender.
It wasn’t a good tenure in Buffalo for Hutton, but many goalies have struggled in that never-ending rebuild. The pressure will likely be off Hutton and he can focus on being the backup behind one of the more entrenched goalies in the league.
