Last year, around this time, the Winnipeg Jets were putting down roots in their new hometown after leaving Atlanta and their tenure as the Thrashers behind.
Now, it's their goaltender who's making plans to stick around for a while.
Ondrej Pavelec signed a five-year contract extension on Monday, which will keep him in Winnipeg (barring any trades) through the end of the 2016-2017 season.
The 24-year-old netminder was due to become a restricted free agent, but Winnipeg put to rest any question of another team trying to sign him to an offer sheet by offering a five-year contract worth $19.5 million. That's a major upgrade from his last contract, a two-year deal worth $2.3 million, and it had to be, given that Pavelec, a native of the Czech Republic, was considered a possible candidate for a move overseas to the Kontinental Hockey League.
Pavelec told reporters on a conference call Monday that he did have a KHL offer - for what he called "really good money," but he preferred to stay in the NHL with the deal he was offered.
"I like Winnipeg," he said.
A second-round draft pick of the then-Thrashers in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Pavelec went 29-28-9 in 2011-12 with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. His save percentage fell from a career-best .914 in his final season in Atlanta, but he played well enough to earn a role as a major piece of the Jets' future.
It remains to be seen what effect this will have on the Jets' efforts to re-sign other key free agents, a group that is headlined by forward Evander Kane. Word had circulated previously that Kane was unhappy with the Jets and eager to leave Winnipeg, but his agent, Craig Oster, has denied those claims, and met with Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff last week to discuss a new deal.
It remains to be seen whether Kane will commit to helping to build a winner in Winnipeg. For now, though, Pavelec already has.
