RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes have locked up goaltender Cam Ward for six more years.

The Hurricanes on Wednesday signed Ward to a $37.8 million contract that begins next season and runs through 2015-16.

The new deal will pay the fifth-year goalie an average of $6.3 million per year.

He will earn $3.5 million this season under the terms of his current three-year deal signed in 2007. That contract expires after this season, and he would have become a restricted free agent.

Ward has been one of the faces of the franchise ever since he burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2006, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs while leading the Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup.