IT’S OFFICIAL: Red Wings Ink Jonathan Bernier To 3 Year Deal

The worst kept secret in the goalie UFA department has now been made official. The Red Wings and Jonathan Bernier have agreed to a 3-year, $9-million deal ($3-million AAV).

Bernier has been around the NHL for ten years now and has played for teams all over the league. His longest stint was in Toronto, where he split the starter’s role with James Reimer before the team brought in Frederick Andersen for the role.

Most recently, Bernier was with the Colorado Avalanche where he played in 37 regular season games and put up a .913 save percentage in a surprising season for a team that just had the worst season in recent NHL history. In the playoffs, Bernier played in four games against the President Trophy winning Nashville Predators and was lit up, posting a .883 save percentage and 3.87 goals against average.

Bernier will be a serviceable back-up for Jimmy Howard in the final year of his contract. His career save percentage of .914 is right in line with the league average. When Howard gets hurt or needs a break, Bernier can easily slide in and take the reigns, just as he did in Colorado this year with Semyon Varlamov. Should the team decide to part ways with Howard at the trade deadline or the conclusion of the season, they can lean on Bernier until the next bonafide starter rolls into town.

Ultimately, this is a low risk, mediocre reward type of deal. At a low cap hit and low term, I like this deal for Detroit.

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