A goalie, a goalie! My Kingdom for a goalie!
Canadian King Richard III…we think. Don’t quote us on that.
Here we are Carolina Hurricanes fans. After weaving so many rationalizations to convince ourselves that Cam Ward and Eddie Lack would work out this season, we now find ourselves holding only tatters of our dreams of goalie competency. Lack toyed with us a bit. His first outing was shaky, but he came back to play well in the Calgary game. The Lack experiment crashed and burned in Philadelphia, though, and Eddie gave up 6 goals in what has been the worst loss of the season. According to Corsica, the Hurricanes are dead last in Team SV% with a .855. But if you’re a longtime Canes fan this won’t come as anything new. Goaltending has long been a problem for the Carolina Hurricanes since about the 2006-07 season.
So where does the team go from here? There are options in the farm system. Alex Nedeljkovic surprised people with his play in the world juniors this summer, but so far he’s performed below expectations in the AHL. Nedeljkovic needs some more time to develop and the Hurricanes next goalie prospect Daniel Altshuller is even further off than Nedeljkovic. So if GM Ron Francis wants to improve his goalie situation this year, there is really only one option left: a trade. Let’s take a look at what could be available out on the market this time of year.
Marc-Andre Fleury
Marc-Andre Fleury is definitely going to be a sought after commodity for teams needing help in the crease. With Matt Murray signing a three-year contract last week, Fleury’s time in Pittsburgh is all but numbered. This situation is pressing given the existence of the expansion draft this offseason. Pittsburgh must expose one goalie to the draft. Fleury has a No Movement Clause in his contract which the Penguins must honor. If the choice is either to protect Fleury or Murray, the choice will be Murray. GM Jim Rutherford has been in this situation before and he chose the younger goaltender. No reason to think he’d act any different this time.
Fleury, although not elite, is a known quantity, and he’s been much better than Cam Ward or Eddie Lack over most of his career. While at 31 years old, Fleury isn’t the youngest goalie out there, but with only three more years left on his contract the Canes wouldn’t be on the hook for long. Obviously, the Penguins will want some picks or prospects to replenish their empty farm system, but if the price is right this wouldn’t be the worst trade in the world for the Hurricanes.
Ben Bishop
Unlike Fleury, Ben Bishop is considered one of the best goalies in the game right now. He averaged a .921 SV% over the last five years and backstopped his team to the Stanley Cup Finals. So why would the Tamp Bay Lightning want to get rid of him? Well, Bishop is an unrestricted free agent next year, and his next contract will most likely pay him like the top 5 goalie he is. That’s going to be a lot of money for a team that is already struggling to hold the pieces together under the cap. Like Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay also has a young goaltender waiting in the name of Andrei Vasilevskiy.
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Given all that, trading for Bishop won’t be easy. Tampa’s GM Steve Yzerman can negotiate with the best of them. Yzerman didn’t trade Jonathan Drouin when the latter requested one. Yzerman didn’t even trade his superstar Steven Stamkos who was in the same situation as Bishop this year. If Yzerman was willing to let the face of his franchise to walk, one has to assume that he’ll do the same for his goalie. The price needs to be to Tampa’s liking or they won’t hesitate to turn it down. Bishop’s play prices him out of Francis’s reach, in terms of salary and cost of acquisition, but if Ron traded for him, the move makes Carolina into instant playoff contenders. Bishop’s contract contains a No Movement Clause he must waive before any trade could happen as well.
Brian Elliott
The Calgary Flames just traded for Brian Elliott why would they want to get rid of him already? I know it sounds crazy but have you seen Elliott’s stats this year. Terrible would be putting it mildly. He’s one of the few starting goalies that actually played worse than the Hurricanes’ duo so far this year. So why would Carolina want him and much less give up assets to get him?
Well for one 3 games do not define a career. Has Elliott played well this season? No, but he proved himself in the past and averaged a .925 SV% over the last five years. Elliott’s play so far could say more about the state of the Flames rather than a condemnation of him as a player. Calgary expected to compete for a playoff spot. Right now, though, they are one of the worst in the league.
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Like Ben Bishop, Elliott is also an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year. If things keep getting worse in Calgary, they’ll be looking to move pieces and restock with draft picks. Unlike Tampa, the Flames management lacks the ability to let players walk for free. If Calgary free falls, then the Flames trade Elliot; they can’t avoid it. If things fall into place, Elliott could be the best chance for Francis to upgrade his goalie at a bargain. Especially if the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves in the thick of things in a couple of months down the road.
These aren’t the only three options, but they represent the easiest to acquire through trade. Especially trades that shouldn’t involve a lot going back in the other direction. Either way, something needs to be done about our goalie situation. Something needed to be done about it for the past five years. Maybe now, management will finally pull the trigger. One can only hope.