Joonas Korpisalo was expected to be heavily pursued by multiple teams in free agency. He was seen as a potential bounce back candidate for many teams, but now he won't have that opportunity. Today the Columbus Blue Jackets announced they have extended goaltender Joonas Korpisalo to a one-year contract worth $1.3 million.
Korpisalo, 28, had a tough season with injury issues, posting a 7-11-0 record in 22 games with a .877 save percentage. Korpisalo had hip surgery in April. Korpisalo was due to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Many fans will be shocked that Korpisalo was signed with the potential names to replace him in Free Agency. There is veteran goalies in Thomas Greiss, Jaroslav Halak and Martin Jones available. All three of these goalies mentioned didn't have great seasons and are getting on the wrong side of 30. They are all probably looking to get more than the $1.3 million that the Finland native got in this contract.
Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen thinking here might be to bet on the guy you know instead of bringing someone else in to share the workload with Elvis Merzlikins. Korpisalo just finished his 7th season in Ohio. His career season was in 2019-2020 when he was 19-12-5 with a GAA of 2.60 & Save % of .911.
