Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue has had a busy offseason, spending time with two-month-old daughter Mila and building a house in his native Quebec.

Add in a new contract with the team, and the summer has certainly been memorable for Domingue.

“Everything is just lining up for me, and I couldn’t be more excited,” he said.

Domingue and the Coyotes signed a two-year, one-way contract worth $2.1 million Monday, solidifying their backup role behind No. 1 Mike Smith – a job Domingue merited through his performance last season.

The 24-year-old went 15-18-5 in 39 games, posting a 2.75 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and two shutouts while also setting the franchise record for wins (15) by a rookie netminder.

“Louis earned this,” General Manager John Chayka said. “He had a very strong year. When Mike Smith went down, he’s the guy who stepped up. He showed a lot of maturity in his game, a really positive demeanor. He’s a guy who calmed the whole team down when he was in net, and he had a lot of strong games.”

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After Smith was sidelined in December to have surgery on a core muscle injury, Domingue joined the Coyotes from the American Hockey League as Anders Lindback’s understudy before playing his way into the No. 1 spot.

He went 7-0-3 in his first 10 starts, helping the Coyotes sit in a playoff spot at the All-Star break. Fatigue likely set in when the season resumed with Domingue at one point rattling off 16 straight appearances, but the experience was invaluable.

“I just showed myself that I can be a No. 1 guy in this league,” said Domingue, who nabbed the NHL’s Rookie of the Month honors in January.

A fifth-round draft pick (138th overall) by the Coyotes in 2010, Domingue started working out in the gym May 1 and plans to get on the ice at the end of this week. He’s also going to try to visit goalie coach Jon Elkin in Toronto for a week as he prepares to prove himself at training camp in the fall.

“I just gotta come with the same approach that I can still be going down whether I do the job or not,” Domingue said. “So I gotta work, and that’s what a backup goalie does.”

The Coyotes issued their first contract offer to Domingue at the end of May, he said, a decision that “showed how much they believe in me and I was really flattered.”

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Domingue was set to become a restricted free agent this summer and although the Coyotes were able to lock him up, they’re still working to sign some of their other RFAs.

The team sent qualifying offers by Monday’s deadline to wingers Tobias Rieder and Stefan Fournier, defensemen Michael Stone and Connor Murphy and center Tyler Gaudet. Qualifying offers expire July 15.

“We’ve had a lot of negotiations and discussions to date, but I’m confident that we’ll come to terms on all of them,” Chayka said. “It’s just a matter of time and working through the process.

Arizona did not qualify defensemen Klas Dahlbeck, Kevin Connauton, Jarred Tinordi and Philip Samuelsson, wingers Sergei Plotnikov and Christian Thomas and goalie Niklas Treutle. All become unrestricted free agents.

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Chayka said the team wasn’t comfortable with the qualifying numbers for Dahlbeck and Connauton, but the team is still in talks with the two to try to work out new contracts.

“We still think highly of them as players,” he said. “We think they’d be a good piece of our team.”

The Coyotes are also still negotiating with Tinordi, who appeared in only seven games after a January trade from the Canadiens before getting slapped with a 20-game suspension for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.

“There’s lots of upside to him,” Chayka said. “I think he’s a guy that in the right environment with the right support and the right staff working with him, I think he’s got a real chance. He’s a guy who’s difficult to judge but hopefully if there’s more risk, there’s more reward.”

With Domingue graduating to the NHL, the Coyotes are seeking a starter with NHL experience for their American Hockey League affiliate and have talked to a few candidates; prospect Adin Hill has been tabbed as Tucson’s backup.

And the Coyotes also continue to negotiate a one-year contract for captain Shane Doan, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent Friday when the signing period opens.

“There’s just a lot of balls in the air with our entire team, a lot of liquidity in the market,” Chayka said. “So once we get a little more clarity on where everything sits, then we can make it a lot easier to get Shane in the right spot at the right time. He’s been very patient with us; I appreciate that. He’s been phenomenal throughout the entire process – him and Terry Bross, his agent. Obviously, we’ll continue to work toward something and hopefully sooner than later. That’s what I expect.”

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.