Winnipeg Jets sign Ashton Sautner to one-year contract

The Winnipeg Jets have signed defenseman Ashton Sautner to a one-year, two-way contract, according to Ken Wiebe. The deal carries an AAV of $775,000 in the NHL and $225,000 in the minors.

The undrafted depth defenseman will get an automatic $25,000 raise over last year, simply because the NHL raised the minimum salary by that amount. However, it is unlikely he’ll ever see any of that money given he last played in the NHL during the 2019-20 season.

Sautner played the 2022-23 season with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. He appeared in 68 games, scoring two goals and 12 points, along with 50 penalty minutes and a +3 rating. At 29 years old, Sautner is a full-time AHL defenseman. Between 2018-2020, he played 23 NHL games for the Vancouver Canucks, scoring three assists.

Aside from that, he has been playing in the AHL since the 2015-16 season. The Flin Flon, Manitoba native has played 351 AHL games in his career so far. He scored 16 goals and 74 points with 238 penalty minutes and a +5 rating.

He played his junior career with the Edmonton Oil Kings from 2012-2015, culminating with a 51-point campaign in 2014-15. DobberHockey said he is a “bottom-pair defender with limited offensive abilities.”