The Ottawa Senators have given netminder Joonas Korpisalo a huge payday, signing him to a five-year, $20M contract worth $4M per season, per the team.
This is a major investment for the Senators, who lock up Korpisalo until he’s 33 years old. The 29-year-old had quite the bounce-back season, as in 2021-22 he was backing up Elvis Merzlikins in Columbus and posting a .877 save percentage.
In 2022-23, the script flipped. Merzlikins was the one posting the grisly save percentage, while Korpisalo had an extremely strong .913 save percentage on a Blue Jackets team facing significant defensive losses.
He had an even better run of success after a trade to the Los Angeles Kings, posting a .921 save percentage in 11 games.
Korpisalo faltered a bit in the playoffs, but overall he had an encouraging bounce-back campaign.
The Senators have clearly bet on that bounce-back being more indicative of Korpisalo’s true talent level, and seeing as he had some earlier flashes of talent in Columbus there is reason to believe that bet will pay off.
But after their disastrous signing of Matt Murray, one wonders if committing term to a talented but inconsistent netminder is the best option for the Sens. They already have Anton Forsberg and the young Mads Sogaard in the NHL mix for their goalie spots, but now one of those players might be squeezed out by this signing.
Should Korpisalo play like he did in Los Angeles with the Senators, this deal will turn out to be quite the bargain. But that’s a big “if” given the volatility Korpisalo has shown throughout his career.
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