Former Sens goaltender pivots on NHL PTO, signs in Europe instead
Earlier this off-season the Florida Panthers signed former Ottawa Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond to a professional tryout (PTO). Unfortunately for the Panthers, Hammond has decided to sign a one-year contract in the KHL with Traktor Chelyabinsk.
The team announced the signing yesterday, which will put a hold on the goaltender's run in the NHL for now. During his six year NHL stint, "The Hamburglar" played for four teams, but found the most success with the Ottawa Senators.
During the 2014-15 season the Senators called up the undrafted free agent after they signed him to a two year contract, where he would go on an absolute tear starting in mid February of that year. Winning his debut against the Montreal Canadians and going on to finish the season with a 20-1-2 record an incredible 1.79 Goals against average and a 0.941 save percentage, leading the Sens to a playoff birth that seemed unlikely. Unfortunately, it was all for not when the Sens were promptly eliminated by the Canadiens.
During the 2016-17 season, Hammond would only play six games for the Sens posting a 4.08 goals against average and putting up a 0.837 save percentage, before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche along with the rights to Shane Bowers, a conditional first round pick in the 2019 NHL draft (which ended up being Bowen Byram) and a third round pick in the same draft (which ended up being Matthew Steinburg) in exchange for Matt Duchene.
Since being traded, Hammond has spent most of his time in the AHL and hasn't played more than seven games in the NHL.
