Back Up Goalie Discussion
What's Tre going to do here?
IMO this is THE biggest hole in the roster right now.
Part of me says let all the 'kids' battle it out for back up duties. You'd think between Rittich, McCollum (who actually has had some damn good AHL numbers the last few years) and Gillies someone would be able to step up, but Flames brass clearly thinks this team is ready to contend, and I doubt they want to risk their entire season by forcing Smith to shoulder a 65+ game work load, or worse have him get injured and end up with a Gillies/Rittich tandem and their 1 1/3 games of NHL experience between them.
I'm partial to Anders Nilsson myself, but that's no sure thing either.
Does Johnson come back knowing if everything goes to plan he only gets 25-30 starts? Doesn't seem likely.
Tre had Chayka hold back some of Smith's salary, bringing his cap hit to $4.25~ so that could be an indication he plans on shelling out a little more money to a reliable back up while keeping the hit for goalies more palatable and in the $6-6.5 million range...
What is everyone's feelings on this? Predictions? Hopes?
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