The Ottawa Senators are looking to move goaltender Craig Anderson, TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link). Chris Stevenson of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that the netminder has requested to be dealt. However, no trade is believed to be imminent.
Anderson is coming off of a tough season that saw him post a .898 SV% and a 3.32 GAA, his worst numbers since the 2005-06 campaign when he was with Chicago. However, he is just one year removed from putting up a .926 SV% and a 2.28 GAA so the Sens are certainly hoping that his 2017-18 performance isn’t necessarily an indicator of things to come. Over the past several years, Anderson has alternated good years with not-so-good ones.
Back in September, Ottawa inked the 37-year-old to a two-year, $9.5MM contract extension that is set to kick in next month. The deal is front-loaded with a $5.5MM salary for next season and $4MM for 2019-20. It also contains a ten team no-trade list.
GM Pierre Dorion may have some difficulties finding a deal in the short-term. Teams that are focused on longer-term starting help are focused on Washington RFA Philipp Grubauer while those that are looking for a short-term upgrade may prefer to wait until next weekend where they can try to sign one of Carter Hutton, Jaroslav Halak, Jonathan Bernier, Kari Lehtonen, and Anton Khudobin who are all set to become unrestricted free agents. Former Senator Robin Lehner is also set to hit the open market as he is not expected to receive a qualifying offer next week. With all of those players being available without having to give up anything for their rights, Ottawa may have to wait to see if there are any teams left standing after the free agent shuffle to see if there is a potential taker for Anderson.
It’s a saturated goalie market. Look at some of the names available – many more attractive than Anderson and his near 5mil contract after a dismal year.
Graub is the best of the bunch, but will cost a player/pick, Hutton is 2nd best, and is FA, Bernier is a good backup and is FA. Lehner is FA and will likely take a cheap contract just to stay in the game (being unqualified by the worst team is a confidence killer).