The Hockey News Lyle Richardson believes Calgary Flames goaltender Brian Elliott’s tenure with the team is over. After a season of struggles, culminating getting pulled in Game 4 of their playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, the team is expected to look elsewhere for help behind the net next season.
Elliott, who was acquired last year from the St. Louis Blues for a 2016 second-round pick (Jordan Kyrou) and a 2018 third-round pick, never put up the kind of season the Flames had hoped for. He finished the season with a 2.55 goals against in 49 contests and a .910 save percentage. Those numbers were way below his usual numbers. Last year for the Blues, he played in 41 games with a 2.07 GAA and a .930 save percentage. However, Elliott’s 3.88 GAA in the four playoff games against the Ducks left a lot to be desired by Calgary. A soft goal by Anaheim’s Patrick Eaves at 5:38 in the first period of Game 4, which was enough for Calgary head coach Glen Gulutzan to remove him in favor of Chad Johnson.
While Johnson, also an unrestricted free agent, may be retained by the Flames, both writers believe they will have to look at either the free agent or trade market to find their next goaltender.
Los Angeles Kings goaltender Ben Bishop may be at the top of their wishlist. Bishop, who is an unrestricted free agent, is the top goaltender on the market and Calgary came close to trading for him last offseason before choosing to trade for Elliott instead. He is coming off a two-year deal in which he made 4.76MM this year and was traded to Los Angeles in February. He fared well in 2015-16 in Tampa Bay, playing in 61 games and finishing with a 2.06 GAA and a .926 save percentage. However, he didn’t play as well this year, allowing a 2.55 GAA in 32 games with Tampa Bay and a 2.49 GAA in seven games with Los Angeles. Despite those struggles, many experts believe his price tag may be in the $7MM range as there are several teams on the market looking for goalies.
Other free agent options, according to Richardson are Philadelphia’s Steve Mason, Chicago’s Scott Darling and Ottawa’s Mike Condon. Mason, who had a monster rookie-year in 2009-10, has never been able to duplicate that (with the possible exception of the 2014-15 season). Darling has been a veteran backup for the Blackhawks and never had an opportunity to start full-time, while Condon has had some success, but also was both waived and traded for a fifth-round pick only a year ago.
The trade market could be another option for the Flames, as the Pittsburgh Penguins will likely look to move Marc-Andre Fleury after the great rookie season from goaltender Matt Murray. The 32-year-old netminder has shown he still has it, leading the Penguins to their first-round playoff series win over Columbus. However, his numbers don’t stand out that much as he finished the season with a 3.02 GAA in 32 contests this season.
The price for any goaltender may be high as many believe that the Winnipeg Jets, Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders could be looking for a netminder.
Steve Mason would be a downgrade for Calgary. Brian Elliot has a better track record than Mason does. Ryan Miller is a far better free agent option than Mason. Peter Budaj had a better season and is a better teammate. In Philly, Mason complained about sharing time with other goalies. After the season, Mason told the media that he wants no part of a time share in goal. That he wants to be the guy. The only problem is that is numbers don’t back him up. He hasn’t been good enough to make such a demand. The reason the Flyers signed Neuvirth to an extension over Mason is Neuvirth’s willingness to share time & his willingness to mentor a young goalie. If Calgary wants to upgrade from Elliot, then they need to go after Bishop or Miller
Philly didn’t want Mason or Neuvirth back, but they needed to sign one of them to expose them in the expansion draft and therefore not expose Stolarz. Neuvirth was be better choice in case they get stuck with him.
Would Blackhawks , who have had salary cap issues for years, look to trade Crawford to help with $ relief? Curious
Ben bishop, welcome to your new home
I think the Blackhawks would maybe consider it but I doubt it they need to keep Crawford unless they are willing to gamble on a guy like condon or sign miller to a cheap 1-2 year deal to have one last kick at the can but if you are doing that you may as well keep Crawford