Winnipeg To Wait To Make Goaltending Move?

A flurry of goaltending moves may just be underway, but despite the fact that both Carolina and Dallas have each solved their long-term goalie issues by trading for Scott Darling and Ben Bishop respectively, some teams may be taking a more cautious approach when it comes to their goaltending problems.

The Winnipeg Jets are one of those teams who need to upgrade their roster behind the net, but the Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe suggests that the team needs to look at the overall picture. While the Jets are in a similar position that both Carolina and Dallas were in and must upgrade at the goalie position, caution remains in order too.

Current starter Connor Hellebuyck didn’t have the best season this past year, but the netminder remains just 23 years old and the team isn’t ready to give up on the young goaltender, nor do they want to expose the goaltender to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the upcoming expansion draft. He has been promising, but struggled as a full-time starter. In 59 games this past year, Hellebuyck finished with a 2.89 GAA and a .907 save percentage. His numbers as a part-time goaltender had been much better and the team may just want to look for a short-term option to share duties with Hellebuyck.

So due to those mixed results and the looming expansion draft, don’t expect the Jets to try to trade for their starting goaltender like Carolina and Dallas before them, at least until after the expansion draft. That almost guarantees the team will not be acquiring Marc-Andre Fleury, who will almost guaranteed be dealt by Pittsburgh before the expansion draft.

On top of that, the scribe suggests the team is also unlikely to sign a goaltender to a long-term deal since both Hellebuyck and top prospect Eric Comrie will require waivers in 2018-19 and the team would not be ready to lose either player that soon.

So, what options remain?

Wiebe suggests several smaller targets for the Jets to look at, including the Calgary Flames’ Brian Elliott. While the veteran goaltender is not coming off a great season in Calgary, he might be more open to a short-term deal to prove his worth. The Jets might be eager for someone like Elliott to share duties with Hellebuyck. Elliott finished with a disappointing 2.55 GAA and a .910 save percentage this past year in 49 games, the most he had played since 2009-10. However, before that, he had a 2.07 and a .930 save percentage in 2015-16 and could be great comeback candidate.

Other suggestions were to focus on acquiring backup goaltenders, including Anaheim’s Jonathan Bernier, Ottawa’s Mike Condon, New York Rangers’ Antti Raanta and Washington’s Philipp Grubauer.