Capitals Backup Goalie Johnson Signs Free Agent Deal With Pittsburgh

Washington Capitals free agent goaltender Brent Johnson signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Capitals' backup netminder for four seasons, Johnson, 32, went 12-6-2 with a .908 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average in 2008-09 before suffering a season-ending hip injury in February.

Johnson, who made $825,000 last season and became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, had expressed a desire to remain in Washington, but with three goaltenders -- José Theodore, Simeon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth -- under contract for the upcoming season, he appeared to be the odd man out.

"I did wait a little while hoping something would pan out with Washington," Johnson said of waiting three weeks before signing with another team. "But it wasn't in the cards. It was just one of those odd-man-out situations again."

Washington General Manager George McPhee declined to comment on Johnson's departure.

A career backup, Johnson emerged as arguably the Capitals' steadiest goaltender before the injury, as Theodore struggled to find a rhythm early in the season. Theodore, who will make $4.5 million next season, finished the regular season 32-17-5 with a 2.87 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.

With Johnson's departure, Theodore will compete for the starting spot against Varlamov and Neuvirth, both 21.

Johnson is the fourth free agent to leave the Capitals this summer after Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov opted to continue their careers in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia and Donald Brashear signed a two-year, $2.8 million contract with the New York Rangers.

Johnson is expected to compete with rookie John Curry for the backup role behind Marc-André Fleury in Pittsburgh.

"It's going to take some getting used to," Johnson said of wearing a Penguins sweater. "But it was the right situation for me. Although things didn't work out the way we had planned in Washington, I'm very happy to be landing in Pitt. Going to the defending Stanley Cup champion is not a bad position to be in [because] you want to win."

Staff writer Tarik El-Bashir contributed to this report.