Photo Credit: Jay Kopinski/Icon SMI
There’s a lot of trades happening this weekend at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., where the 2015 NHL Draft will be held. At least three teams are looking to trade goalies, and this means a lot for all of the goaltenders set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
Likely to make trades are the Ottawa Senators, who will probably trade Robin Lehner or Craig Anderson, The Vancouver Canucks who could potentially move Jacob Markstrom or Eddie Lack and The New York Rangers are in talks to trade backup Cam Talbot, which may give Talbot the advantage to start.
The Los Angeles Kings could try to trade restricted free agent and backup Martin Jones, and the Dallas Stars could try to trade Kari Lehtonen, even though his contract may not allow it.
Teams like the Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres and San Jose Sharks are definitely in seeking out a new goaltender, but whether they’ll get one they have their eye on all depends on cap space and contract leniency.
Here are the five goalies projected to be fully available from potential trade moves at the draft:
Previous cap charge: $800,000
A finalist for the Vezina Trophy during the 2014-15 season, Dubnyk is hoping to continue with the Wild before the market opens up on July 1. After being acquired by the Wild in the middle of January, he helped carry them to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Though the Wild are his first priority, he won’t be partial to other teams calling on him.
Previous cap charge: $3.8 million
The future of Niemi with the San Jose Sharks depends on a lot of things, one of them being that the Sharks don’t have another goaltender on hand to step in. As for right now, Niemi isn’t off the radar for the Sharks, but a trade is possible.
Previous cap charge: $2.75 million
Goaltender Jonas Hiller is signed with the Flames for one more season at $4.5 million, so if Ramo is looking for more money, his time in Calgary may soon come to a close. The Flames also have Joni Ortio, at $600,000, making him a much cheaper option than Ramo. If the Flames decide to make Ortio the full-time backup to Hiller, Ramo has the advantage of being expendable. In 2012, Jon Gillies, was drafted by the Flames and signed a two-year contract in April, which means he could be well on his way to making most of the starts in the American Hockey League. In two seasons, Ramo has been average. More likely than not, he could be a better fit for teams like the Sabres and Oilers. They aren’t necessarily looking to overpay for a goaltender, but they are two teams in need of a veteran in net.
MICHAL NEUVIRTH, NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Previous cap charge: $2.5 million
Though re-signing Neuvirth as Jaroslav Halak‘s backup would be ideal for the Islanders, not being re-signed would benefit Neuvirth to test his value and see if he could be signed as a starter. The Islanders are able to take their time with a decision being that they already have Halak set as their starter and they aren’t in need of signing a backup on July 1. Halak pulls in 4.5 million, so the team has to determine how much they’d be willing to pay on a backup. Neuvirth may very well be worth $2.5 million, who only played in five games after being traded from the Buffalo Sabres.
Previous cap charge: $1.25 million
Enroth, similar to Neuvirth, has the ability to test his value on the market during the draft as well. He could potentially land a starting position, even though those are pretty hard to come by. The team has Jack Campbell re-signed on a one-year, two-way contract and he is at a point where he is ready to be a full-time backup. It’s completely possible that the Stars could try to trade Lehtonen and re-sign Enroth to pair him together with Campbell as a goaltending duo. Enroth will most likely hit the market on July 1, with the option of returning to Dallas still being a major one. He has yet to be a full-time No.1 goaltender.
Coming off of the intensity of the post-season, the NHL draft is sure to be full of well-planned trades. What each team should be focusing on is building up a team that will carry on through the playoffs. One thing they need to remember though when it comes to goaltenders is that it isn’t necessarily always the goalie who needs to keep a solid play and bring the team far into the post-season, it’s the entire team itself and how well they mesh together on and off the ice.
