DU Alum Chris Butler Inks New NHL Contract

(above) DU alum Chris Butler signed a two year $2.5 million contract on Friday
From: TSN.com

The Calgary Flames have signed defenceman Chris Butler, whom the club recently acquired from the Buffalo Sabres.

Butler, 24, signed a two-year deal with an average salary of US$1.25 million. The stay-at-home defenceman would have entered restricted free agency Friday had he not signed with Calgary.

The Flames dealt defenceman and former assistant captain Robyn Regehr, forward Ales Kotalik and their second pick in 2012 to Buffalo for Butler and forward Paul Byron at the NHL entry draft.

Butler, a six-foot-one, 200-pound native of St. Louis, had five goals and 31 assists in his last three seasons with Buffalo. The Sabres drafted him in the fourth round (96th) in the 2005 draft.

"This enables him to focus solely on preparing for the upcoming season and not have to worry about his contract status," Flames general manager Jay Feaster said in a statement.

There was urgency for the Flames to get Butler under contract Friday because the Dallas Stars signed 27-year-old defenceman Adam Pardy, an unrestricted free agent who spent his last three seasons with the Flames. Pardy agreed to a two-year, $4-million contract with the Stars, which was a significant raise on the $700,000 he made last season.

5 comments:

dggoddard said...

Congrats to Chris.

Butler was another recent DU player from St. Louis area. Others include Paul Stastny, Scott Mayfield and the Mermis brothers.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget Fan favorite Dave Makowski too!

dggoddard said...

Nice catch.

Speaking of Makowski, the YouTube of his 190' goal is now over 266,000 hits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a79Ej7WK5Q

Anonymous said...

Makowski is an excellent 2-way defenseman who can skate better than most d-men and has a rocket from the point. Probably DU's most underrated player...

du78 said...

Trotter re-signed with Montreal after playing last season in the KHL.