Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
Here is what I know and have said all along, unless someone vastly overpays and they can convince Markstrom to waive his NMC he isn't going anywhere. Will the team listen if someone calls in him? Sure, you always listen. Is anyone going to make the kind of offer I believe it would take for Conroy to even approach Markstrom about moving? Highly highly unlikely.
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I think this is a smart way to go about it for Conroy. If Markstrom keeps this up, he’ll likely be in the Vezina conversation at the end of the season. He might not win it because guys like Demko have been so solid all season but he should be getting some votes by the end of the year.
I know it’s rare these days for goalies to get a good haul in a trade but it’s also very rare for goalies that are playing as well as Markstrom to get traded. And it’s also rare for so many good teams to be looking for goaltending help this far into a season (e.g. Toronto, New Jersey, Carolina, LA and Colorado). It’s a bit of a perfect storm of a sellers market for a top goalie in the NHL… even more so if Conroy is willing/able to retain some of his salary. His price should high… if someone is willing to pay up then great. If not, having Markstrom stick around will be great too.
If the flames end up keeping Markstrom I think it will be good for Wolf. Next year, it could go 55-60 games for Markstrom and 22-27 games for Wolf with some sheltered games worked in to protect Wolf’s development into an NHL starter. The following season (Markstrom’s last year under contract), it could switch to prettty much an even split between the two with Wolf hopefully getting close to 40 games. This would ease Wolf into becoming a starter as the year after that, they could sign a solid backup (maybe it’s still Markstrom by then) to play around 30 games while Wolf plays around 50 games.