While the Dallas Stars have a big negotiation coming up with starting goalie Jake Oettinger, they won’t have any more negotiating to do to find his backup. The team announced that it has re-signed goalie Scott Wedgewood to two-year, $1M AAV deal.
Wedgewood originally came to the Stars as part of a midseason trade with the Arizona Coyotes, who had claimed him off waivers from the New Jersey Devils. It had been Wedgewood’s second tour of duty with the Coyotes, a far more successful tenure than his first time in the desert. In 2017-18, the Coyotes acquired Wedgewood and he ended up playing 20 NHL games there, going 5-9-4 with an .893 save percentage. This year, Wedgewood flipped the script, posting a strong .911 save percentage on a Coyotes team that finished among the league’s worst teams.
While Wedgewood played only eight games with the Stars, his overall performance in 2021-22 is the primary reason why GM Jim Nill and the Stars can be confident in him as their choice to back up Oettinger. In total this year, Wedgewood started 32 games and had a .910 save percentage, which is especially impressive when you consider that the bulk of his starts came in Arizona. The Stars clearly believe that Wedgewood has what it takes to be a strong backup for their up-and-coming star, and the numbers support them in that belief.
At only 29 years old, Wedgewood still figures to have a long career in front of him. The former top-100 pick at the 2010 draft took his time developing in the minors, starting first in the ECHL before eventually reaching the NHL after three seasons with the AHL’s Albany Devils. While he has bounced around quite a bit so far in his career, as part of three trades and a waiver claim, he seems to have found a home in Dallas.
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