Blue Jackets Sign Backup Goalie To Expansion Friendly Contract

The Columbus Blue Jackets recently announced they signed backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo to a one-way, two-year contract, and you, Vegas fans, should be rejoicing. Why? Cause starting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has a NMC and isn’t going anywhere, which mean the 23-year-old Korpisalo may have just signed the perfect deal for Vegas.

The deal will pay Korpisalo $700k this coming season and $1.1 million in 2018-18. Salary cap hit of $900k. He would have been RFA on 7/1.

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 9, 2017

Guaranteed to be a exposed, Korpisalo is really the ideal expansion selection. At 23-years-old (we are going to keep reminding you of this) and with only 45 NHL starts the future is wide-open for the Finnish goalie. Assuming the Golden Knights believe in Korpisalo, he would have two-years to win the starting goaltending job.

Korpisalo, 23, is expected to be a full-time Blue Jacket now – the one-way deal guarantees his salary, no matter if he plays in the NHL or AHL. Also, he would now have to clear waivers to be sent to the minors. The Blue Jackets will have to expose him in the NHL expansion draft later this season, so there’s a chance they could lose him to the new franchise in Las Vegas. – Adam Cairns, Columbus Dispatch

Korpisalo’s backup stats and starts took a dip this season. In 2015-2016, his record was 16-11-4 with a 2.60 GAA. This season he appeared in 17 fewer games and allowed more goals averaging 2.88 goals per game. His AHL stats declined as well. So again, Korpisalo could be considered a gamble, but… he’s also just 23-years-old.

Here’s where the Vegas Golden Knights come in. They ask the Blue Jackets what they would give them if they took Jack Johnson instead of Karlsson or Korpisalo. Columbus would most likely give up picks and/or prospects to make it happen. –Fox Sports

If goalie coach Dave Prior and the Golden Knights aren’t as high on Korpisalo as we (and the Blue Jackets) are, they need to put on a great poker face and bluff their way to some major assets to take Johnson. But if they see the 23-year-old as the potential top five goalie in the NHL like some scouts do, the contract he just signed makes him a can’t miss.

Bottom line, 23-year-old Korpisalo is so affordable, SinBin.vegas may pay his salary to join our Saturday street-hockey league. We can never seem to find two real goalies.