Crookshank played 13 games in Ottawa this season and led the Belleville Senators in goal-scoring and points per game.
As the Ottawa Senators held an event for their season ticket holders on Wednesday night, they dropped a little nugget of news on their biggest supporters.
Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Dave Poulin announced that the team has agreed to a one-year, two-way extension with forward Angus Crookshank. The winger will make $775,000 if he's in the NHL this fall or $120,000 in the American Hockey League.
The feisty 24-year-old left winger made his NHL debut in December and scored his first NHL goal just two days later against the Arizona Coyotes. He finished the season with 13 NHL games, scoring two goals and an assist.
Crookshank was elite in Belleville with 46 points in 50 games, leading the team in goal scoring and points per game, and representing the B-Sens at the AHL all-star game.
He was starting to look like a player with a good chance at a full-time bottom-six forward job this fall. And while that still may be the case, he lost some end-of-season chances to impress the club's decision-makers.
Crookshank suffered a lower-body injury in early April and was replaced in Ottawa by Jiri Smejkal. Crookshank's latest recall lasted just five and a half games but he got to play a couple of those on a line with Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle – a definite sign of how well-regarded he is, positioned right near the top of the prospect pipeline.
The new deal indicates the Senators remain interested in Crookshank as a prospect, but the fact that it's a modest one-year, two-way contract also shows that the North Vancouver native still has a lot of work to do to win them over as a full-time NHL player.