Ducks goalie Lukáš Dostál’s career has taken him from his native Czechia to Finland to the U.S., but he’ll be sticking around Orange County for at least five more years after agreeing to a contract extension worth $32.5 million.
Dostál, 25, announced his own signing via Ducks social media channels on Thursday morning.
He’s come light years from a tiny town outside Brno where he began his journey to NHL stardom.
“I look at myself in the mirror and I always see myself as being a kid from a village with 300 people in it,” Dostál said. “It’s a good reminder that if you have a dream and you want to chase it, there’s always a possibility to reach it.”
Dostál said the deal was finalized late Wednesday night, and while he was looking ahead to his morning workout, he had to fit in a call home to parents Martin and Renata before bed.
“Right away, I called my dad, like, ‘Hey, it’s done, these are the numbers, we can chat more the next day,’” Dostál said. “My dad didn’t want to hang up the phone, he just wanted to talk to me. It’s a big moment for my family.”
Last season, he led one of the NHL’s top goaltending tandems with veteran John Gibson. The longtime Duck was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in June, and now Czech countryman Petr Mrázek will serve as Dostál’s backup.
Dostál said he reached out to Gibson when he was dealt, saying the pair had a strong “professional relationship” and that he gleaned quite a bit from Gibson. Now, Dostál is the uncontested starter.
“Lukáš has proven he is a No. 1 goaltender and we are so pleased to get this deal done,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. “He is just entering the prime of his career with his best hockey ahead of him.”
Dostál went 23-23-7 with a .903 save percentage last season, but given his team’s typically poor possession numbers and high shot volume against, he was one of the top goalies in the NHL in terms of goals saved above expected.
Just before solidifying himself at the NHL level, Dostál was the lynchpin in Czechia’s run to World Championship gold on home soil in the spring of 2024. In February, he will likely reprise his role as No. 1 netminder in Milan at the Winter Olympics, the first tournament with NHL participation since 2014.
“It’s a massive honor. The NHL players are coming back, and it’s nice that I can be a part of that wave,” Dostál said. “I’m going to be 25, and representing the Czech Republic (at that age) is going to be really cool.”
Dostál is part of a young Ducks core that also includes half a dozen top-10 picks as well as top defenseman Jackson LaCombe. He said the mid-range term of his pact – he could have signed for as many as eight years or as few as one – represented a mutual desire between him and the Ducks.
“We are a rising team, I truly believe that. That’s why we agreed to a long-term deal,” said Dostál, whose contract covers two arbitration-eligible years as restricted free agent and three unrestricted free agent campaigns.
Remaining unsigned for the Ducks are RFAs Mason McTavish, the No. 3 overall pick in 2021; Drew Helleson, a solid contributor on right defense and close friend of LaCombe; Sam Colangelo, who spruced up the third line once he was called up for good last season; and Tim Washe, who joined the Ducks for two games at the end of last season after winning the NCAA championship with Western Michigan.