[Calgary4LIfe]

Outside of Talbot - who would probably need a tonne of coaching and probably a longer rope than many here would be ok with - there isn't really much on the market.



Quick is a big contract and would not be 'fine' with being a backup, though his numbers aren't exactly stellar. At 33 years of age, who knows if he will really rebound or not. LA has two younger goalies that are both doing better than Quick this season - Petersen (24) with 11GP, 2.61GAA and .924SV%. Campbell (27) has 18GP, with a stellar 2.12GAA and .933SV%. I haven't followed LA enough this year to see if they are just being played against the lowest competition, but both their numbers are much stronger than Quick's (28GP, 2.99GAA, .902SV%). FYI, Quick's contract is a terrible 5.8 million cap hit for 4 more years after this one (he will be 37), but the one minor saving grace is that his his actual dollars go down to 3.5, 3.0 and 2.5 in the last 3 years of the deal, making him slightly more attractive to a budget team having trouble reaching the cap. According to cap friendly, he doesn't have a NMC that you need to worry about for the upcoming expansion draft, nor even a NTC. Tough pill to swallow, IMO, but he is a playoff performer (unlike Bobrovsky).


McElhinney (according to a poster - sorry, forgot which one you were) hated playing in Calgary, so I can't imagine his head will be on straight if he returned.



Bobrovsky is a bit of a headcase, and his track record in the playoffs is far from what you would want, plus he is going to be expensive to acquire.



Howard is rumoured to be on the market, but Detroit has also stated that they are planning on re-signing him. They want a first round pick for Howard, and because they like him enough to re-sign him, it is probable that they will just hold firm and keep him if they don't get their asking price.


Craig Anderson - 36 games played, 3.55GAA, .904SV%. That's not much of an upgrade on Smith, so I would rather just keep Smith.


Anders Nilsson is doing well, but he has had wild swings in his numbers throughout his career. Should be on the radar given his results, and especially since Ottawa doesn't seem to know how to play defence.



Carter Hart seems to have claimed the net in Philadelphia, but the only other goalie with respectable numbers this year is Brian Elliott. No thank you. I honestly trust Smith more.


Linus Ullmark is the future for Buffalo, so POSSIBLY you can wriggle Carter Hutton out of the Sabres if they decide to be sellers again, but he won't be cheap, as he seems to be the starter. His numbers aren't fantastic, but acceptable (33GP, 2.86GAA, .909SV%). Not sure Buffalo would trade him as he is signed for two more years at 2.75 million.


Crawford is on the IR. No idea when he is back (or even how long he has been out), but he may not be ready to go for some time. His numbers are right around Smith's this year anyway, and Cam Ward's numbers are even worse. Doubt that they would be willing to trade Delia who is posting good numbers and is only 24.



Chad Johnson's numbers are putrid this year - 9GP, 3.75GAA, .872SV%). Yeah, no thanks. Ryan Miller has been respectable for Anaheim though - 10GP, 2.71GAA, .922SV%. Wasn't there a rumour not long ago that Calgary has asked about him? His numbers surprise me this year, as I thought he was washed-up, especially given that team's record.


That's all the goalies I can think of that are currently in the NHL on poor teams. I doubt that Lundqvist is available, so I didn't include him (and that contract makes me shiver). It looks like goaltending is going to be difficult to shore-up before the playoffs, especially without mortgaging a substantial part of the future. Not sure the Flames should be focused so much on that given the likely costs and names available, not to mention that often goalies seem to take some time to get used to the team in front of them.