The Los Angeles Kings have signed goaltender Pheonix Copley to a one-year, $1.5 million contract extension.
Copley has had a bit of a resurgence this season, although that’s largely been because of the Kings' troubles in net this season. He started out the season as a quiet depth signing, so quiet that he wasn’t even the focal point of the press release announcing the signing of his $825,000 contract.
He has since become the Kings starting goaltender at this point of the season with the struggles of Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen opening up the job for him. However, that hasn’t stopped the Kings from pursuing other goaltending options in the trade market.
Since joining the team in December, Copley has started 20 games for the Kings, with a 15-3-1 record, an .897 save percentage, and 1.36 5v5 goals saved above expected, including a seven-game win streak at one point. They aren’t amazing numbers, but it goes to show how good the Kings are that even a roughly .900 save percentage is enough to get them wins.
It also goes to show how bad Quick and Petersen have been this season. Quick currently has an 8-12-4 record with a shutout, a .881 5v5 save percentage, and a -11.46 goals saved above expected, with the latter two stats ranking in the bottom 10 among goalies this season. Meanwhile, Petersen had a 5-3-2 record with a .868 save percentage and a -3.51 5v5 goals saved above expected, although he’s improved a bit with the Ontario Reign in the AHL with a 10-8-1 record and a .918 save percentage.
With this signing, the Kings technically have their goaltending figured out for next season, with both Copley and Petersen signed beyond this year, although that is still very much in the air. A trade for another goalie will likely either mean that Petersen stays in the minors to bury his $5 million cap hit, or he gets moved or bought out at some point. It’s likely that Copley ends up in either a tandem or backup role next season depending on how the season plays out.
It’s certainly a situation that the Kings want to have figured out soon, as it could help push them over the top in what is a wide-open Pacific Division, with just three points separating first and fourth in the division and eight separating first and fifth. The Kings currently sit in fourth in the Pacific with a 28-18-7 record, good enough for the first wild card spot in the west.
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