While the Coyotes are among the teams that still have a vacancy to fill between the pipes, their backup down the stretch last season is moving on. Todd Diamond, the agent for goaltender Harri Sateri, told Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link) that his client has signed a one-year deal with EHC Biel-Bienne of the Swiss NLA.
The 32-year-old had a strong showing with Novosibirsk of the KHL last season, posting a 2.02 GAA along with a .926 SV% in 38 games. He also played extremely well in five appearances in the Olympics, helping to get him on the NHL radar. Just before the trade deadline, Toronto signed Sateri to be their backup goalie for the rest of the season but he had to pass through waivers first to get there. That didn’t happen as the Coyotes scooped him up off the wire to make him their backup for the final few weeks.
It was Sateri’s first NHL action since the 2017-18 campaign with Florida and suffice it to say, it didn’t go particularly well. Sateri had a 4.22 GAA with a .866 SV% in six appearances which certainly didn’t help his chances of securing a one-way deal to stay in North America so he’ll instead try his hand in the Swiss league instead. Meanwhile, Arizona’s current backup battle would be between Ivan Prosvetov and Jon Gillies with neither of them proving that they’re ready for full-time duty behind Karel Vejmelka just yet so GM Bill Armstrong likely still has some work to do on that front this summer.