[Drury77]

The Toronto Maple Leafs rewarded Alexei Ponikarovsky for a career season Thursday, signing the forward to a $6.315 million, three-year contract extension.

The 27-year-old native of Kyiv, Ukraine tied a career-high in goals (21) and established new personal bests in assists (24) and points (45) in 71 games this season.

The six-foot-four 220-pound left-winger added 63 penalty minutes and finished third on the team with a plus-minus rating of plus-8. He'll make $1.575 million next season, $2.24 million in 2008-09 and $2.5 million in 2009-10.

Ponikarovsky has 120 career points (54-66) in 268 games with Toronto. The Leafs selected him in the fourth round (87th overall) of the 1998 draft.


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