The Jets have added some goaltending depth to their system as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve inked Cole Kehler to a deal for the remainder of the season. The deal is worth $700K in the NHL and $70K in the minors.
The 23-year-old has made just one appearance this season which came yesterday as he played the final two periods with AHL Manitoba, making eight of ten stops while picking up the victory over Belleville. Kehler had spent the previous two seasons in Los Angeles’ farm system, spending the majority of his time in the ECHL.
With Winnipeg recently losing Anton Forsberg to Ottawa on waivers, they were down to just one recallable goalie in Mikhail Berdin (with Eric Comrie available on the taxi squad if needed). On top of that, the backup for most of the season in Manitoba was Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs who was recently recalled to Vancouver in the wake of their COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, there was a need for another netminder in their system and Kehler has earned his first NHL deal to fill that void.