"Not only has it become apparent that Jonas Hiller became the Ducks' lead goalie over the last few weeks but it's now clear that he could be that for the next few seasons.

The Ducks signed Hiller to a contract extension Saturday worth $18 million over four years, securing the Swiss native who has won the starting job and could have been an unrestricted free agent this summer.

It is a clear sign the club is committed to Hiller, who'll be 28 on Feb. 12, as the go-to guy in net for the present and the future. Hiller, who will be the starter for Switzerland at the Olympics next month, is 21-15-2 with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage.

Ducks general manager Bob Murray said there was no way he wanted to let Hiller get away and estimated he could have possibly gotten more if he had hit the market as an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Hiller will make $1.3 million this season.

"It was huge in the fact that he was going to be unrestricted at the end of the year," Murray said. "And I didn't want him getting into the open market. You couldn't allow that to happen because then you could lose somebody for nothing. We'd already done that once with (Ilya) Bryzgalov and that was a huge mistake.

"Jonas' numbers speak for themselves."

"If that wouldn't be their thought then they probably wouldn't have given me that contract," he said. "I'm definitely happy but I also know that it's not going to be for granted that I'm going to be the No. 1. I have to work for it every day.""