Ducks sign starting goaltender to a new five-year deal

It’s a major dedication to the Geese’ new undisputed No. 1, one that can see him rely $6.5M in opposition to the cap via the 2029-30 marketing campaign. The 25-year-old was an arbitration-eligible RFA and selected to file for it earlier this month. As a substitute of going to a listening to, although, he lands a well-compensated deal that eats up the rest of his RFA years — after which some.

Anaheim now has one of many costlier goalie rooms within the league this season. The Geese are one of many few groups anticipated to hold three netminders, rostering veteran backups Petr Mrazek ($4.25M) and Ville Husso ($2.2M) at comparatively steep cap hits for his or her projected workload. 

Mrazek was acquired when the Geese sent longtime starter John Gibson to Detroit on the draft, paving the way in which for Dostal to imagine the crease, whereas Husso completed final yr in Anaheim as their third-stringer however landed an unexpectedly large new contract from them a number of weeks in the past.

The contract comes after Dostal, lengthy touted as one of many league’s brightest younger goalies, transformed his linear growth path right into a breakout season in 2024-25. The 2018 third-round decide shouldered nearly all of the workload for the primary time, making 49 begins and 5 aid appearances for 54 complete showings. He posted a 23-23-7 document, a .903 SV%, and a 3.10 GAA.

These numbers might look near common at first, however needs to be seen within the context of Anaheim’s porous protection. The younger Czech managed to avoid wasting 14.3 objectives above anticipated, per MoneyPuck, sixteenth within the league. He completed twelfth in year-end All-Star voting amongst goaltenders consequently.

Dostal now turns into the eleventh highest-paid goalie within the league for 2025-26, roughly in keeping with these ranks. He lands extra yearly than current long-term extensions handed out to starters like Joey Daccord, Adin Hill and Logan Thompson, however Dostal’s age benefit over them and corresponding room for development seemingly drove up his market worth — notably on an Anaheim group that can want robust goaltending to make a playoff push subsequent season with one of many league’s youthful defenses.

Dostal will likely be 30 when the contract expires, making him an unrestricted free agent. Anaheim nonetheless has some notable RFAs to re-sign, specifically 2021 No. 3 total decide Mason McTavish.