Shootica

I did a quick look across the league and from what I can see, the teams that could use an upgrade in net are us, Chicago, Carolina, and Edmonton. Arizona is the only team that from my perspective needs to move a goalie, both from a cap perspective and the fact that Adin Hill requires waivers next season. Columbus and Dallas could move a goalie (Korpisalo or Bishop) if they're confident in the youth they have waiting and need cap space, but I'd bet that both of them stand pat. It's been reported that the Blackhawks aren't interested in spending much money/assets on the goalie position while they aren't contending, so I only really see them going for a Craig Anderson type. Edmonton just re-signed Craig Smith so that may be the group they're going with even though it doesn't look pretty. That leaves us and Carolina in the goalie market, and Arizona needing to move a goalie. If Carolina makes an upgrade, they need to trade one of their own to make space. So to me, there's two likely outcomes: 1) We trade for Kuemper/Raanta and either waive Hutton or trade him desperately with retained money. 2) Carolina trades for Kuemper/Raanta leaving us to trade for Reimer or Mrazek. Either way, the team we'd be getting a goalie from would have no interest in Hutton. Which shouldn't be much of a shock, but it's worth mentioning. And either way, we most likely have to find a trade partner for one of our right shot defensemen (or Reinhart I guess) to clear the cap space to make it work.

Guys, I think some of you should look back at Fleury's stats from this past season. Of the top 62 goalies in shots faced last year, he ranked 42 in save percentage. Ullmark was 20th, Hutton was 53rd. And that was behind a Vegas team with very good team defense. He looks even worse in the fancy stats that try to correct for shot quality. This isn't the Fleury of 5 years ago. This is 35 year old Fleury who is clearly on the downturn of his career and being paid more than all but 3 goalies in the league. I love the guy as a player, but he isn't the answer we need in net. And he certainly isn't the answer we need if it means losing Reinhart.

That offer sheet idea seems rich for Dunn. That's paying someone for what you hope they become instead of what they've done so far. A 1-2 year deal in the $2.5 range makes sense to me as a prove it contract. As for a trade, I think Mitts and Pilut puts us in the right ballpark. Adding a 2nd is probably overkill in my eyes. I like Dunn as a target. He's seemingly fallen out of St. Louis' long-term plans with the Krug signing, and he would fill a hole in our roster. He'd be a good complement to McCabe on the left side behind Dahlin, with Dunn taking offensive matchups and McCabe handling defensive ones.

It was suggested by some Blues fans over at HFBoards.

I don't think Arizona wants Hutton. They have Adin Hill ready to come up and be their backup goalie next season, and they're trying to clear salary off that roster. So realistically, we'd be trading for Raanta and burying Hutton in Rochester for the $1.075M cap savings. That would be a net cap increase of $3.175M that would likely have to be accounted for by moving someone else.

Dunn for Mittelstadt has gotten some interest from both sides. My gut tells me we'd have to throw in a small add, but that base could work. Man, I really wish Boston had re-signed Krug or traded for OEL and made Grzelcyk available. I'd love to have him at the price he just re-signed for.

I agree, I wouldn't consider him safe. But you don't see too many guys get moved immediately after signing an extension, even if it is only one year.

I'd put my money on Miller as long as there's a willing trade partner. He clearly wasn't Krueger's favorite player, and they just re-signed Montour.

Where was all of this reported?

I believe transmission fluid is usually red, that would be my guess. I just can't believe the guy kept driving the thing.

Not a Kahun fan eh? I like the idea of starting Cozens on Staal's wing to start the year. Put them with whichever of Hall and Skinner ends up on the second line. There will be so many small teachable moments for Cozens as learns the pro game, and we have no one better than Staal to mentor him along the way.

Would you guys say Jake Allen's 2 x $2.875M AAV extension is a reasonable comp for Ullmark?

Doh, you're right. For whatever reason Johansson was a UFA after the year in my head. He'll satisfy that requirement.

The expansion draft protection question is interesting. Because like others have said, teams are required to leave at least one goalie exposed in expansion. This means that we have to have a goalie under contract next off-season to expose. So in our current situation (Ullmark and Hutton) we will need to re-sign Ullmark to at least a 2 year deal, and we will be required to expose him. Same goes for if we replace Hutton with another goalie that is one year away from UFA (Kuemper, Rittich, Reimer/Mrazek). That makes me think that if we are looking to acquire a goalie, it will be someone with more than one year left. Raanta and the Columbus goalies come to mind. This gives us much more flexibility in the event that Linus shows that he is a bonafide starting goalie. On this topic, we really should have signed Johansson to a 2 year deal. That way he would be the surefire candidate to expose and we wouldn't have to be having this conversation.

Maybe I'm crazy, but haven't we tried both of these things? I definitely remember seeing Risto at the netmouth for a number of games last year, and Eichel plays the left wall just as Ovi does for Washington. Eichel spends more time controlling the puck and setting up plays, but that just comes down to the style of players they are. He still gets plenty of one time shots off from that spot.

To me it's Montreal. They've had some nice additions, and the natural progression of Suzuki and Kotkaniemi as players should leave them in a really nice place. I also think Brodie is a very nice addition for Toronto. They've improved in my eyes through that move alone. Ottawa and Detroit improved, but I don't think we need to worry about them at this point. This division is going to be a gauntlet next year.

So if we were to move Reinhart for Gaudreau, do we just throw in the towel on the RW position and play with a center, a left wing, and a lefter wing? It's revolutionary.

***** it, give me everyone's top 6 forwards.

You'd have to think that if there was trade interest in Montour, they would've held off on re-signing him to allow the new team to give him a longer deal if they desired.

I've got to imagine that part of the reason that Hall chose to sign here was some sort of verbal agreement that he'd be playing (or at least get a very long look) next to Jack. So I'm going to assume that they're together until proven otherwise. I like the lines that @Gabrielor put together, obviously assuming that Cozens comes in at camp and shows he's ready for that role. I think our attention needs to turn to defense and goaltending now. If we can get another solid bottom 4 LHD and find a replacement for Hutton, we'll be in pretty good shape.

Haven't heard anything on him yet.

Walks him to UFA, but at least we can get a 2nd round pick at the deadline for him. Because this roster isn't sniffing the playoffs.

So the goalies left from the UFA pool are Anderson, Howard, Smith, and Dell? Am I missing anyone? If so, not an inspiring list.

Well, so much for that.

I'd be happy with grabbing Toffoli or Fast. Seems like the market is fairly reasonable this year, so if there is a time to add through free agency it is now. I'm a little concerned that we haven't been rumored to be after any 3C options though. I think that's a bigger need than top 4 RW right now, especially considering how we drafted. Krueger is reportedly looking to start Cozens on the wings, and we have Thompson as well as Quinn hopefully a few years down the road. Meanwhile, there is no line of sight to getting a 3C internally. I really really hope out plan isn't to shoehorn Mittelstadt or someone into that role.