ATLANTA, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The Atlanta Thrashers have won the bidding for Byron Dafoe, reaching a tentative contract agreement Tuesday with the free agent goaltender.
Thrashers general manager Don Waddell made the announcement during Tuesday's game with the Florida Panthers, saying Dafoe and his agent will fly to Atlanta on Wednesday to "iron out" details.
"It'll probably be a multi-year deal with an option," Waddell said. "I think we're trying to develop a long-term partnership. I would hope that this would last longer than a one-year deal."
A former Vezina Trophy finalist, Dafoe was not offered a new contract by the Boston Bruins in the offseason and reportedly was being courted by the Thrashers, New York Rangers and New York Islanders.
Atlanta is last in the NHL with a 3.78 goals-against average and is yielding just under 32 shots per game to rank just above Florida and Montreal at the bottom of the league.
Pasi Nurminen and Milan Hnilicka have been sharing the goaltending chores for the Thrashers, who opened the season with a 10-game winless streak and are last in the Southeast Division with just 10 points.
Atlanta used the second overall pick in the 2002 draft on Finnish goalie Kari Lehtonen.
"We went into this season thinking our goaltending was OK, and I still feel both guys are going to be OK, but we had an opportunity to upgrade the position, and that's what we've done," Waddell added.
Dafoe, 31, has been working out with Merrimack College outside Boston, but Waddell said he does not expect him to make his Atlanta debut before the weekend. The Thrashers host Pittsburgh on Friday and play at Washington on Saturday.
Nicknamed "Lord Byron," Dafoe was 35-26-3 with four shutouts, a 2.21 GAA and .907 save percentage in 64 games with Boston last season. He spent five years with the Bruins and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 1999 after posting a career-high 10 shutouts and 1.99 GAA.
Dafoe broke into the NHL with Washington in 1992 and was traded to Los Angeles in July 1995. He moved to Boston in 1997 as part of a four-player swap.
