Goalie Anton Khudobin was waived by the Dallas Stars on Monday.
Khudobin, 35, has struggled this season. He has a 3-3-1 record with a .873 save percentage, second-lowest in the NHL for goalies with at least seven appearances. He also has a 3.73 goals-against average.
Thanks to the stellar play of offseason signing Braden Holtby and 23-year-old Jake Oettinger, Khudobin also hasn’t seen much action. He’s only had one start since Nov. 13, giving up seven goals in a loss to the Minnesota Wild. If he clears waivers, the Stars plan to give him more starts with the AHL Texas Stars.
Khudobin has two more seasons on the three-year deal he signed with the Stars in 2020. He carries a cap hit of $3.3 million, and his contract carries a four-team no-trade list that expires after this season. His base salary both this season and next is $3.75 million.
Khudobin is a 13-year NHL veteran, playing 257 games with the Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, the Wild and the Stars. He earned his current contract after carrying Dallas to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2020 “bubble” postseason in Edmonton, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Khudobin led all postseason goalies in shots faced (811) and posted a .917 save percentage.
The Khudobin move is the second significant goaltending news to come out of Dallas recently. The team announced over the weekend that Ben Bishop, a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist, has played his last game due to a degenerative knee injury.