There's a decent chance Vladar tests free agency in the off-season, despite there being a mutual interest to bring him back. I thought it would be a fun exercise to see what free agents are out there, and which teams have openings.
Available Free Agent Goalies
Code:
Player Age Cap-hit GAE/60 GP W Sv% GAA
Allen 34 $3.85M 0.635 31 13 .908 2.66
Reimer 37 $1.00M 0.352 24 10 .897 3.03
--- Average backups
Lyon 32 $0.90M 0.092 30 14 .896 2.81
Forsberg 32 $2.75M 0.079 30 11 .901 2.72
Vladar 27 $2.20M 0.030 29 11 .895 2.86
Samsonov 28 $1.80M 0.021 29 16 .890 2.82
--- Will do in a pinch
Domingue 33 $0.78M -0.100 1 1 .926 2.00
Tokarski 35 $0.78M -0.218 6 4 .902 2.18
Vanecek 29 $3.40M -0.366 24 3 .886 3.57
Rittich 32 $1.00M -0.368 34 16 .887 2.84
--- On the way out
Georgiev 29 $3.40M -0.402 49 15 .874 3.69
Husso 30 $4.75M -0.460 13 2 .884 3.47
Martin 29 $0.78M -1.226 9 3 .846 3.89
Murray 30 $0.88M -1.315 2 1 .879 3.54
--- AHL
Dipietro 25 $0.78M AHL 40 26 .927 2.05
There seems to be two backups that are ahead of the rest - Allen in particular, and then maybe aging Reimer. The group of Vladar, Lyon, Foresberg, and Samsonov seems to make the most sense for the Flames. Then there's a group that had pretty lacklustre seasons in Vanecek and Rittich, with a couple of 3rd string goalies that performed well in Domingue, and Tokarski. An interesting option is Dipietro who had a great season in the AHL, but hasn't played any NHL games last season. All-in-all, that gives the Flames about 6–7 options to fill the spot.
Goalie Vacancies
Code:
Team Stater sv% | Backup sv% | 3rd sv%
ANA Dostal* .903 | Gibson .912 |
BOS Swayman .892 | Korpisalo .893 |
BUF Ukko-Pekka .887 | | Levi* .872|.919AHL
CAR Kochetkov .898 | Andersen .899 |
CBJ Merzlikins .892 | Greaves .938 | Tarasov* .881|.908AHL
CGY Wolf .910 | |
CHI Knight^ .902 | Soderblom* .898 | Brossoit LTIR
| | Commesso .846|.911AHL
COL Blackwood .912 | Wedgewood .908 | Miner .879|.918AHL
DAL Oettinger .909 | DeSmith .915 |
DET Talbot^ .901 | Mrazek .891 | Cossa` .857|.911AHL
EDM Skinner^ .896 | Pickard .900 |
FLA Bobrovsky .906 | |
LAK Kuemper .922 | |
MIN Gustavsson .914 | Wallstedt^`.843 |
MTL Montemb .902 | Dobes*` .909 | Primeau* .836|.927AHL
NJD Markstrom .900 | | Daws .939|.893AHL
NSH Saros .896 | Annunen^ .883 | Murray |.932AHL
NYI Sorokin .907 | Varlamov .889 |
NYR Shesterkin .905 | Quick .893 |
OTT Ullmark .910 | Forsberg .901 | Marilainen*` .925|.913AHL
PHI Ersson^ .883 | Fedotov .880 |
PIT Nedeljkovic .894 | Jarry .893 | Blomqvist` .885|.914AHL
SEA Daccord .906 | Grubauer .875 |
SJS | Askarov` .896 | Romanov .877|.905AHL
STL Binningten .900 | Hofer* .904 | Ellis |.922AHL
TBL Vasilevsky .921 | Johansson .895 |
TOR Stolarz .926 | Woll .909 | Hildeby .878|.908AHL
UTA Vejmelka .904 | Ingram .882 |
VAN Lankinen .902 | Demko .889 | Silovs .861|.908AHL
VGK Hill .906 | Schmid^ .944 |
WPG Hellebuyck .925 | Comrie .914 |
WSH Thompson .910 | Lindgren .896 |
* RFA
^ Might want to upgrade
` Top goalie prospect < 20GP
There are 6 main openings are in BUF, CGY, FLA, LAK, NJD, and SJS. SJS is probably the main team that is looking for a tandem goalie to play with Askarov.
Teams that should consider upgrading their goalie situation in the offseason: EDM, DET, NSH, PHI, and maybe CHI and PIT.
There are a couple of openings that I expect to be filled in by a young up-and-coming goalie, like Wallstedt, in MIN who signed a $2M contract, or by their 3rd goalie such as Levi in BUF, Daws in NJD, or Schmid in VGK.
Finally, there are a couple of interesting situations where a goalie might need a spot like Marilainen in OTT, making Foresberg available. Also, Brossiot might return in CHI, which could make Soderblom available.
So which goalie do you think ends up with which team, and for how much?