The Columbus Blue Jackets signed goaltender Elvis Merzlikins to a one-year, one-way contract on Wednesday that will run through the 2019-2020 NHL season.
Merzlikins is expected to compete for the top goalie job with the expected departure of Sergei Bobrovsky. The 25-year-old Latvian signed a contract in March for the rest of the 2018-19 season, but apparently the Blue Jackets had to extend him before July 1:
#CBJ only had 2 goalies under contract for the 2019-20 season (Matiss Kivlenieks & Danill Tarasov).
The CBA requires that all clubs have at least 3 goalies under contract at any given moment during a league year.