Los Angeles Kings‘ 14th year veteran goaltender, Slovakian-born Peter Budaj(31) is having one of his best season starts with new affiliate Ontario Reign.
In 14 AHL games he’s posted a 10-3 record with a stingy 1.64 GAA, .934 SV% and 4 shutouts.
This comes after an horrendous outing with Winnipeg Jets‘ minor league club St. John’s IceCaps, where he went 0-9-6 in 19 contests.
His pro playing career started as a Colorado Avalanche 2nd round pick in the 2001 draft (#63 overall).
He spent the first three years with former farm club Hershey Bears, making his early mark.
The 6’1″ 192 lbs. net minder would spend his next 6 seasons either in the starter role or splitting playing time with the parent club before signing a two-year deal in 2011 with Montreal Canadiens as an unrestricted free agent.
He would ink a 2-year extension as the earlier deal was expiring and played more games for Le Bleu Blanc Rouge 2013/2014 than previous seasons but found himself thrown into the mix on a trade for a prospect to Winnipeg in the final year of his contract.
The 33-year old was in some unfamiliar territory, without a deal but ready to guard the cage somewhere.
Given a training camp tryout with the Kings he was impressive enough to score himself a more time and may even get another shot for the big club before it’s all done in 2015/2016.