The Ottawa Senators have signed goaltender Andrew Hammond to a US$4.05-million, three-year contract.
Hammond, whose spectacular late-season run got the Senators into the playoffs, will make $1.2 million next season, $1.35 million in 2016-17 and $1.5 million in 2017-18.
The "Hamburglar" will count $1.35 million against Ottawa's salary cap over the length of the deal.
Hammond made his first NHL start at the age of 27 in February, then went 20-1-2 with a 1.79 goals-against average and .941 save percentage to lead the Senators on an improbable run to the playoffs.
"The great thing about sports and hockey in particular is anything can happen," Hammond said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "I was given a chance to kind of hit the refresh button a little bit when I got called up and I was able to play some of my best hockey down the stretch there."
The Surrey, B.C., native went 0-2 with a 3.44 GAA and .914 save percentage in the first round against the Montreal Canadiens before being replaced by Craig Anderson.
Hammond's 23 regular-season starts were a big enough sample size to earn him a contract.
"The three-year deal was pretty important to me just to give me a little bit more security and kind of just start moving forward to building a career out of it more than anything," Hammond said.
With Hammond signed, the Senators are expected to trade either Anderson or Robin Lehner before the start of next season.
Anderson has three years left on his contract at a cap hit of US$4.2 million, while Lehner has two left at a cap hit of $2.25 million.
Still on general manager Bryan Murray's off-season to-do list is getting new deals for several restricted free-agent forwards: Calder Trophy finalist Mark Stone, Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Alex Chiasson.
