A day after losing the Calder Cup Finals to the Hershey Bears, Brent Krahn has something to smile about. He knows he'll be somewhere in Texas next season. No word on Matt Climie yet, who's performance drove the Stars to those AHL Finals.
Krahn played his first game in over a month last night in the final game of the AHL season, even after Matt Climie played spectacularly in game 5 last Friday night.
Here is the release:
Frisco, Tex. – The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has signed goaltender Brent Krahn to a one-year two-way contract extension.
Krahn, 28, played in 22 games for the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season, posting a 17-4-0 record and five shutouts with a 1.83 GAA and a .945 save percentage. He helped Texas reach the 2010 AHL Calder Cup Finals appearing in 11 games in the postseason, going 7-4-0 with a 2.48 GAA and a .924 save percentage in the 2010 AHL Playoffs.
The 6-4, 232-pound goaltender has played in 196 career AHL playoff games posting a 99-70-14 record including 19 shutouts. Krahn was drafted ninth overall by the Calgary Flames in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.
Speculation about the backup netminder position is bound to start picking up steam as we head toward free agency, now only two weeks away. Marty Turco will not be re-signed and Kari Lehtonen has an extensive injury history. The backup in Dallas will be of critical importance next year. While the Calder Cup playoffs might have served as an excellent audition for both Climie and Krahn, Dallas will still likely be looking outside the organization for possible options, at the very least just to cover all the bases.
As the release states, Krahn went 7-4 in the playoffs (7-3 before the injury) but played only 22 games last season. A recurring knee injury has hampered Brent's development for much of his career, and he is already 28 years old. He is not considered a long term solution in the organization despite his considerable talent. His counterpart Matt isn't far behind him at 27 years of age. We will await news of Matt Climie's contract situation and update accordingly.