LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Kings have re-signed restricted free agent goaltender Mathieu Garon to a one-year contact, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced today.  Per club policy, terms of the agreement were not announced.

 

Garon, 28, established NHL regular season career highs in games played (63), wins (31) and shutouts (4) while recording a 31-26-3 record, a 3.22 goals-against-average and a .894 save-percentage with the Kings this past season.  The 6-2, 192-pound native of Chandler, Quebec, also became just the fourth goalie in club history to win 30 games in one season, joining Mario Lessard (35 wins in 1980-81), Rogie Vachon (33 in 1976-77) and Felix Potvin (31 in 2001-02).  Additionally, Garon’s 31 wins ranked 10th overall in the NHL.

 

Garon was named the NHL’s Defensive Player of the Month for December with a 9-3-0 record, a 2.40 goals-against-average and a .924 save-percentage.  He allowed three or fewer goals in 11 of his 12 starts that month and made a season high 42 saves at Anaheim on December 16, 2005.  He also posted five-game winning streaks three times during the 2005-06 season and he recorded back-to-back 1-0 shutout wins against Dallas and Vancouver on April 1 and April 3, respectively.  He also went 4-1 in shootout decisions with a save percentage of .812 (16 shots/13 saves) and he was successful against all three penalty shots he faced during the season.

 

Originally selected by Montreal in the second-round (44th overall) in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, Garon was acquired by the Kings as part of a three-way deal involving the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators on June 26, 2004.  The Kings acquired forward Radek Bonk from Ottawa for a third-round choice in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and then traded Bonk and goaltender Cristobal Huet to Montreal for Garon and a third-round choice (Paul Baier) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.