The Winnipeg Jets announced today that they had agreed to a two-year, 2.3 million dollar with Michael Hutchinson. 

Let’s take a quick look at what Hutchinson has done, what to expect, and why the Jets did a two-year extension.

Hutchinson served as the Jets backup, playing for thirty games games with a losing record of 9-15-3. Hutchinson stopped only 90.7 per cent of shots on goal, the lowest percentage he has posted at any level since his rookie AHL season in 2010-11.

Suffice to say, 2016-17 was a bit of a disappointing year for Hutchinson. Many were hoping Hutchinson would take the starting job from Ondrej Pavelec after setting a franchise record for rookie wins and posting a near league average save percentage in his first season.

There is still some hope in Hutchinson. The 26-year-old has a 32-26-8 record while stopping 91.2 per cent of shots. Historically, the netminder has been an average or better goaltender every pro-season of his career with his rookie AHL and sophomore NHL seasons as exceptions.

Looking at the underlying numbers, 94.12 per cent of unblocked 5v5 shots have either been stopped or missed the net, while an average NHL goaltender would be expected to only post a 93.87 per cent Fenwick save percentage, given the shots Hutchinson has faced. Brining in special teams for all minutes, we see Hutchinson’s Fenwick save percentage fall to 93.59 but his expected save percentage also falls to 93.10 per cent.

It should be noted, though, that the bulk of HUtchinson’s superior performance has been at the start of his NHL career:

Hutchinson has hovered around average, but a bit below for the most part. While the situation is not optimal, the Jets have received nearly identical performance to Ondrej Pavelec at a fraction of the cost. Pavelec’s Fenwick save percentage is 93.42 compared to Hutchinson’s 93.59. The two are similar enough to consider it a toss up in performance.

It is true, Hutchinson has not yet become the Jets saviour in net, and he may never be. He has, however, been a competent NHL netminder who can stop pucks at very budget-team-friendly price, and there is still the possibility of growth (even if that door is closing real fast with just under 1900 shots faced).

So, why two years?

Prior to this signing, the Jets had Pavelec as a UFA for the summer of 2017, with Connor Hellebuyck as a RFA, and Hutchinson unsigned. As a provision, the early rules on the expansion draft has indicated each team must expose one goaltender who is either a pending restricted free agent or signed for the 2016-17 season. 

Signing Hutchinson for two seasons makes the Jets compliant to those provisions. While it may be unlikely a team picks up Hutchinson with one year left in the expansion draft (or expiring Pavelec, sorry fans), the Jets needed this in order to assure protection of Hellebuyck.

This summer will be interesting. Both Pavelec and Hutchinson susceptible to waivers at this point of their career, and with one-way contracts they would be paid their full in the AHL. The deck has been shuffled against Hellebuyck in staying in the NHL this year, and he will have to force his way. If he does, the Jets will still have Hutchinson signed as the backup for 2017-2018 season.