Calgary’s Goalie Dilemma
With Carolina re-signing Cam Ward earlier today, one of the top goalies was taken off the UFA market. That’s not the best of news for the Calgary Flames who are looking to rebuild their goaltending tandem after Jonas Hiller, Karri Ramo, and Joni Ortio all struggled last season.
With Ward off the market, the only two remaining free agents that have spent some time as a starting netminder in recent years are San Jose’s James Reimer and Ramo, both of whom have struggled at times when given a greater workload.
Accordingly, a trade may be the way to go for Calgary to get their starting goalie. Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun believes that Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury could be a solution for the Flames and reports that GM Brad Treliving has been in contact with his Penguins counterpart Jim Rutherford regarding the 31 year old.
Fleury could be deemed expendable following Matt Murray’s strong efforts en route to Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup victory and trading him would also free up some much-needed cap space for the Penguins, who currently have just shy of $74MM in contracts for next season. With the ability to only protect one goalie in an expansion draft, the Penguins may have some motivation to do something this offseason over risking losing one for nothing next June. Fleury carries a cap hit of $5.75MM for each of the next three season but does, however, have a no-move and partial no-trade clause which could make a trade more difficult.
There’s no denying that Fleury would represent an upgrade between the pipes for the Flames. Last year, Calgary’s goaltenders combined for a league-worst save percentage of just .892. By comparison, Fleury has posted at least a .913 SV% in each of the last six seasons and recorded a 2.29 GAA and a .921 SV% last season.
If the Flames and Penguins can’t reach a deal though, there could be other goalies available this offseason. Here are a trio that could be on the trade block for various reasons:
- Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay): Andrei Vasilevskiy is viewed as the goalie-in-waiting for the Lightning and he certainly more than held his own in the postseason. Bishop has one year left on his deal and GM Steve Yzerman may want to get something for Bishop now and hand the goaltending reins to the young Russian.
- Frederik Andersen (Anaheim): Andersen is a restricted free agent this offseason and is just one year away from UFA eligibility. He has been the starter for the Ducks for each of the past two years but saw his job usurped at times by John Gibson. Gibson is widely viewed as their goalie of the future and accordingly, it’s expected that Anaheim will likely move Andersen at some point this offseason.
- Jimmy Howard (Detroit): Howard played in a career-low 38 games last year as he lost his #1 job to Petr Mrazek (an RFA this offseason). He has three years left on his contract with a cap hit just below $5.3MM which is too pricey for a backup or platoon goalie. As a result, they could be a motivated seller and Howard would give the Flames an upgrade over what they had last season.
This is not the year to rebuild a goalie tandem through the free agent market which means it’s likely that Treliving will have to resort to the trade route to shore up that position at least once this offseason.
Glen Gulutzan Hired As Flames Next Head Coach
Wednesday 10:35am: The Flames have indeed hired Gulutzan as their next head coach, as CTV’s Heath Brown reports. He’ll be announced as soon as Thursday.
Tuesday 10:46am: It appears the Calgary Flames have found their new bench boss as multiple reports suggest they are set to hire Glen Gulutzan as their 16th head coach in franchise history. He would take over from Bob Hartley who was relieved of his duties in early May. Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province says to “bet on it” that Gulutzan will get the job while TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested earlier today that if the Flames can reach a “satisfactory contract situation” with him that he’s the “likely guy” (transcription from Today’s Slapshot’s Chris Nichols).
Gulutzan has spent the past three years as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks working on the staffs of John Tortorella and Willie Desjardins. The Canucks only made the postseason once in those three seasons, coincidentally losing to Calgary back in 2014-15.
The 44 year old Gulutzan has some NHL head coaching experience under his belt having coached the Dallas Stars in 2011-12 and the lockout-abbreviated 2012-13 seasons, compiling a 64-57-9 record in that stretch.
With Calgary featuring young, up-and-coming players such as Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Sam Bennett, it was expected that GM Brad Treliving would look to bring in someone who is more experienced with dealing with younger players and isn’t as much as a hard-line coach as Hartley. Gulutzan fills that bill, having spent five years in the ECHL with Las Vegas (at one point, an affiliate of the Flames) and two years in the AHL as a head coach with the Texas Stars, affiliate of Dallas.
With Anaheim’s hiring of Randy Carlyle, Calgary’s vacancy is the last one to be filled this offseason.
Snapshots: Strader, Hutton, Alfredsson, Cullen, Coaching Vacancies
Some sad news out of Dallas today as the team announced that their play-by-play announcer, Dave Strader, has been diagnosed with cancer. Strader just completed his first season as the voice of the Stars and has been in play-by-play booths for the last 36 years. Everyone at PHR sends their best wishes to Dave and his family through this difficult time.
Other news and notes from around the NHL:
- The re-signing of goalie Marek Mazanec in Nashville earlier today brings forth some doubt as to Carter Hutton’s future with the team. GM David Poile confirmed the two sides are in talks on a new contract but that he feels that “Going to another team will give him a better opportunity to get more games and to probably extend his career” and that “It’s not over yet, but I would say that is probably the way that Carter is leaning”. Hutton has spent the last three years with the Preds, posting a 33-23-12 record in 75 games with a 2.55 GAA and a .910 SV% and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1st.
- Former NHLer Daniel Alfredsson has signed a one year extension to stay on as Ottawa’s Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations, a role he first began in this past season. Alfredsson is the Senators’ All-Time scoring leader, collecting 1,108 points over 17 seasons with the team.
- Pittsburgh center Matt Cullen has yet to decide on his playing future. The 39 year old is an unrestricted free agent on July 1st and played with a broken toe since Game 2 of the Conference Finals. Cullen was the fifth oldest NHLer to suit up in a game this past season.
- It appears that one of the two remaining head coaching vacancies is close to being filled as Calgary GM Brad Treliving said in a radio interview this morning that their search would be “coming to a conclusion very quickly”.
- Following Lake Erie’s AHL title, Columbus will now look to fill their replacement for former Associate Coach Craig Hartsburg. Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch reports that Lake Erie coach Jared Bednar, as well as Darryl Sydor and Brad Shaw, are likely to be interviewed for that position.
Minor NHL Transactions: 6/13/16
Some free agent signings to report around the NHL:
- The Montreal Canadiens have re-signed defenseman Mark Barberio to a 2-year deal worth $1.5MM. The 26-year-old spent last season with the Canadiens before a concussion ended his season in March. Barberio had two goals and ten points in 30 games last season.
- The Nashville Predators inked G Marek Mazanec to a one-year, $575,000 deal according to a team report. The 24-year-old netminder was signed to a two-way contract and spent the 2015-2016 season playing for the Milwaukee Admirals, Nashville’s AHL affiliate.
- The Carolina Hurricanes agreed to a 3-year deal with 18-year-old forward Sebastian Aho. The cap hit is $925,000. Aho was a second round pick for the Hurricanes in the 2015 draft and spent last season in the Finnish league Liiga where he registered 45 points in as many games. Aho will also play for Team Finland in the World Cup of Hockey. They also inked 19-year-old forward Aleksi Saarela to a two year, entry level deal. Saarela was acquired as part of the Eric Staal deal prior to the trade deadline.
- The Calgary Flames signed G David Rittich to a one-year, $925,000 deal. A team report stated that the 23-year-old Czech netminder agreed to a two-way contract. Rittich spent last season with BK Mlada Boleslav of the Czech Extraliga.