Photo: Yardbarker
After goaltender Henrik Lundqvist announced that he will not play this season due to a heart condition, the Washington Capitals announced on Sunday that they have signed goaltender Craig Anderson to a professional tryout agreement. Anderson became an unrestricted free agent on October 9.
The 39-year-old went 11-17-2 with a .902 save percentage and a 3.25 goals-against average in 34 games with the Ottawa Senators last season. He also posted a .918 save percentage, a 2.71 goals-against average, a -0.99 goals-saved above average, and a .827 high-danger save percentage at five-on-five last season.
In 648 career NHL games with the Senators and Colorado Avalanche, Anderson has gone 289-251-67 with a .913 save percentage, a 2.84 goals-against average, and 42 shutouts. The best season of his career came in 2012-13 when he went 12-9-2 with a career-high .941 save percentage, a career-low 1.69 goals-against average, and three shutouts as a member of the Senators.
The Capitals signed Anderson to compete with Vitek Vanecek, who went 19-10-2 with a .917 save percentage, a 2.26 goals-against average, and two shutouts with the AHL’s Hershey Bears last season, and Pheonix Copley went 17-8-6 with a .905 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average, and two shutouts, for the back-up job. The two, along with starter Ilya Samsonov, have a combined 55 games worth of NHL experience.
In 46 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Anderson has gone 23-22 with a .929 save percentage, a 2.35 goals-against average, and four shutouts. He went 11-8 with a .922 save percentage, a 2.34 goals-against average, and one shutout as the starter for the Senators during their run to the 2017 Eastern Conference Final.
Training camp begins a week from Sunday for the Capitals.
By Harrison Brown
39 is up there. Maybe the Capitals sign more than one vet netminder to a PTO? Will be interesting to see how this pans out.
Like it
Hopefully we can ring-out the last few good games he might have in his career. Was pretty decent in his younger days
IF he makes the team he is the 3rd goalie and sees maybe 10 games. And that is IF he makes the team. Happy with a combo of Samsonov and Vanecek and Copley if needed.
It’s good they signed a vet for mentoring the kids.