UPDATE (5:02 p.m. ET): The Bruins announced Friday night that they had officially signed goaltender Anton Khudobin (two-year, $2.4 million contract) and defenseman John-Michael Liles (one-year, $2 million), along with defenseman Tommy Cross (one-year, two-way contract worth $600,000 at NHL level), forward Riley Nash (two-year, $1.8 million contract), forward Tyler Randell (one-year, two-way contract worth $600,000 at NHL level) and forward Tim Schaller (one-year, two way contract worth $600,000 at NHL level).
Cross, 26, and Randell, 25, made their NHL debuts with the Bruins last season. Randell scored six goals in 27 games with Boston, and Cross played in three games and registered one assist.
Nash, 27, has played five NHL seasons, all with the Carolina Hurricanes, and recorded 31 goals and 50 assists in 242 games. Schaller, a 25-year-old Merrimack, N.H., native who played at Providence College, just completed his second NHL season with the Buffalo Sabres and has two goals and three assists in 35 games.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Boston Bruins have struggled to find a consistent backup goaltender in recent years. So they decided to bring back a player who has succeeded in that role in the past.
The Bruins on Friday signed free-agent goalie Anton Khudobin to a two-year, $2.4 million contract, according to multiple reports.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report the signing was imminent, and Renaud Lavoie of TVA reported the terms.
Khudobin spent parts of three seasons in the Bruins’ organization and served as Tuukka Rask’s primary backup during the lockout-shortened 2013 campaign. Khudobin went 9-4-1 in 14 appearances that season, posting a 2.32 goals against average and .920 save percentage for a B’s team that reached the Stanley Cup Final.
After two seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, Khudobin spent last season in the Ducks organization, appearing in nine games for Anaheim and another 31 for the team’s AHL affiliate in San Diego.
The Bruins also reportedly brought back one of their free-agent defenseman Friday, re-signing John-Michael Liles to a one-year deal worth $2 million.
Liles, a trade-deadline acquisition this past February, tallied six goals and 21 assists last season in 84 games for the Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes.
With Torey Krug re-signing Thursday, Boston now has five NHL defenseman under contract for next season: Liles, Krug, Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid.
Thumbnail photo via Ed Mulholland/USA TODAY Sports Images
