Former Sens, Habs G Hammond signs in KHL
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Veteran goaltender Andrew Hammond signed with the KHL's Traktor Chelyabinsk on Friday.
The 34-year-old appeared in 11 games last season, posting a 4-5-1 record and a 3.89 goals-against average for the Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils.
"We are pleased to announce that today we have officially signed a one-year contract with Canadian goalkeeper Andrew Hammond," Traktor general director Ivan Savin said in a statement, per Google Translate. "As I said before, this goalkeeper has a lot of experience playing in North America. Hammond is a fairly large goalkeeper, his main strengths are positioning and mobility in goal. In the next couple of days, the issue of Andrew's visa should be resolved and after that he will immediately fly to Chelyabinsk.
Hammond was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Ottawa Senators in 2013, and made his NHL debut that same year for the team. Dubbed the "Hamburglar" in Ottawa, he had a remarkable year in his second season in the NHL, finishing seventh in Vezina Trophy voting after compiling a 20-1-2 record with a .942 save percentage and a 1.79 GAA.
Those would all prove to be career highs, as he struggled with inconsistency in mechanics and injuries in subsequent seasons. Hammond was out of the NHL for three seasons before returning with the Canadiens in the 2021-22 season.
He was traded during the season to the Devils and appeared in seven games after the trade. He is coming off a one-year, $750,000 contract.
The Surrey, B.C., native has a record of 31-20-7 and a GAA of 2.57 to go with a save percentage of .916 across 67 career NHL games.