Phoenix Coyotes and Mike Smith fans will be happy to know that he won’t be going anywhere soon.

A report from today says that Smith, goalie for the Coyotes’, has re-signed with the team. The deal will see him play for the team for six more years, and his pay will be $5.7 million a year.

The re-signing comes after Smith had two good years with the Coyotes as he had helped lead the team to its first ever division title in the 2011-12 season. During that season, he had a 2.21 goals-against average, a .930 save percentage, eight shutouts. In the 2012-13 season, he didn’t perform as well, but he still performed well enough to convince the team to re-sign him.

Smith’s re-signing is good news for the Coyotes as well since he reportedly only re-signed on the condition that the team would be stable in the coming years. It’s no secret that the Coyotes had been bleeding money over the last few years, and Smith wouldn’t have stayed if that situation wasn’t going to rectify itself soon. It seems that RSE will be buying the team from the NHL this year, but is now working on a lease agreement with the city of Glendale for its arena.

All the pieces of this particular puzzle are not in just yet, but it’s nearing completion. Smith re-signing is an incredibly hopeful sign that the Phoenix Coyotes are back on a path towards profitability in the future.

In other news, the Coyotes signed on Shane Doan as captain before the season started. The team also signed on defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a long term deal earlier this year. All in all, it’s looking like the people of Arizona will have many more hockey games to look forward to in the future.

[h/t: ESPN]
[Image: Mathew Cerasoli/Flickr]