Andrew 'Hamburglar' Hammond gets triple decker contract extension from Sens
We don’t know how much longer the magic of Andrew Hammond will continue, but the "Hamburglar” just received a bit of security.
On Wednesday, the Ottawa Senators announced they’ve extended Hammond for three years. He was pretty excited about it:
Fire up the grills! Excited to be coming back to @Senators for 3 more years! 🍔🍔🍔
— Andrew Hammond (@andrewhammond30) May 20, 2015
A new contract and free MacDonald's for life? Pretty great 2015 for Hammond.
According to the Senators, the deal is worth $4.05 million, with Hammond receiving $1.2 million in 2015-16, $1.35 million in 2016-17 and $1.5 million in the final year of his deal in 2017-18.
Hammond was one of the biggest stories of the second of half of the 2014-15 NHL season. At age 27, he won 13 of his first 14 starts, taking over the No. 1 job in Ottawa as the Senators rallied to make the postseason. But “The Hamburglar” came back down to earth toward the end of the regular season and into the playoffs where he was replaced by Craig Anderson during the team’s first-round exit at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens.
This now brings up the question of what GM Bryan Murray’s next move is regarding his goaltending. As of right now, the Senators have three goaltenders signed for next season with Robin Lehner having two years left on his deal before he becomes an RFA in 2017 and Craig Anderson looking at three years remaining on his contract, according to GeneralFanager.com. Not to mention they just signed college free agent Matt O'Connor to a two-year deal, but he'll start with Binghamton in the AHL.
After Hammond's extension, Ottawa’s cap situation is even tighter, with Murray needing to decide on the futures of UFA Erik Condra and RFAs Mika Zibanejad, Alex Chiasson, Mike Hoffman, J.P. Pageau and Calder Trophy finalist Mark Stone.
Someone will be leaving Ottawa this summer between Lehner and Anderson, and you can imagine Murray picking up the phone to dial Peter Chiarelli in Edmonton as one of his first calls. That and maybe someone would be interested in a slightly-used Jared Cowen at two more years and $8.2 million owed to him?
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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