Penguins Close to Retaining Latvian Goaltender Silovs

The Pittsburgh Penguins are moving forward in their efforts to retain restricted free agent goaltender Arturs Silovs. The club has issued qualifying offers to several players, including Silovs, as a standard procedure to maintain negotiating rights and initiate talks for a new deal. Similar offers were made to forwards Yegor Chinakhov, Ville Koivunen, and Hendrix Lapierre (acquired from the Washington Capitals), defenseman Alex Alekseev, and goaltender Joel Blomqvist.

Silovs' previous two-year contract, signed with the Vancouver Canucks, has expired. The deal was worth a total of $1.7 million. During the regular season with the Penguins, the Latvian netminder played 39 games, posting a save percentage of 88.7%. In the playoffs, he took over as starter in the fourth game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Over the next three contests, he stopped 93.9% of shots, leading the team to two wins (the series ended 2-4).

A qualifying offer typically indicates that the team wishes to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, though in most cases it is declined because the sides have already agreed on a more substantial contract. Negotiations between the Penguins and Silovs' representatives are ongoing.