Offseason Moves for the Red Wings - Free Agent ‘Tenders
I’ve looked at a couple different options Detroit can pursue if Dominik Hasek decides to retire. The organization has made it clear they want him back next season and there is no question he’d be the obvious choice out of all the options available to Detroit. But what if Dom decides he doesn’t want to play next year? I’ve considered going after the best free agent goaltender available in Jean Sebastien Giguere and I’ve also looked at giving Jimmy Howard a chance to split the goaltending duties with Chris Osgood.
If Giguere proves too expensive (that’s my guess) and if the organization wants to give Howard one more year of work as the #1 guy in Grand Rapids (that seems to be the case) then all the team has at this point is Chris Osgood in net. That’s it. Osgood performed well towards the end of last season, but he was also injured quite a bit. So there is no question that in this scenario the Red Wings will need to get a goaltender who can be the #1 guy - either at the start of the season or if Osgood gets injured.
When Manny Legace began his meltdown in the playoff series against Edmonton last spring, Mike Babcock was S.O.L. because Osgood was injured. Jimmy Howard actually dressed for games in the series but the only way he was going to play was if Legace got injured. My point in trudging this up is that Detroit needs a solid goaltender in addition to Osgood. To his credit he signed a very reasonable contract to come back to the organization and he’s never complained about being the backup tender for the past two years. His teammates seem to like him and he’s a positive guy in the lockerroom.
Quick aside - as I’m writing this Hasek was just shown in the crowd at the Pistons - Cavaliers game. At least it’s good to see he didn’t head out of town as soon as the season was over and he’d met with the team. I wouldn’t read too much into that, but it’s not a bad thing.
Okay, so we’re considering the scenario where Detroit needs another netminder. There are two obvious routes they could go: sign a free agent or make a trade. Trades tend to be really expensive, but free agents can be signed for a reasonable amount. Dominik Hasek was a perfect example of this last summer. So who will be available on the free agent market this summer?
Free Agent Netminders
source: http://www.geocities.com/walzy1985/NHL_Roster.html
Anaheim - Jean Sebastien Giguere
Edmonton - Jussi Markkanen
Florida - Ed Belfour
LA Kings - Sean Burke, Mathieu Garon
Minnesota - Niklas Backstrom
Montreal - David Aebischer
NY Islanders - Mike Dunham
Philadelphia - Robert Esche
Phoenix - Curtis Joseph
Pittsburgh - Jocelyn Thibault
Toronto - Jean Sebastien Aubin
These guys tend to fall into 3 camps: too expensive, not a legit #1 goaltender, and - I don’t know how else to say it - no way in hell. J-S Giguere falls into the first camp; Burke, Dunham, Thibault, Aubin, Markkanen, Aebisher and Esche all fall into the second camp; and CuJo and Ed Belfour fall into the third and final group.
With that being said, there are some interesting options here. Niklas Backstrom appears to be contentedly banging out a new contract with the Wild. If that doesn’t work out he might be worth a shot. Detroit could afford to give Backstrom a 3 year contract to see how he does. If he’s great then you have a shot at having a very good 1-2 punch in goal if Howard meets expectations. If for some reason Backstrom doesn’t work out then Howard can slide into the #1 slot starting in 2008-09.
But that is not likely to happen. Backstrom is working on a deal with Minnesota that will pay him $3 million per year to start. Given his relative lack of NHL experience there isn’t much reason for him to expect to get a better deal on the open market. He came to Minnesota as a backup and is now the #1 guy so there is no reason for him to be unhappy with the situation there. So it looks like he will remain with the Wild.
Another interesting guy would be Mathieu Garon. I haven’t seen much mentioned about him, but according to TSN he signed a one-year qualifying offer with Los Angeles last summer. So if that is the case he might be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He currently makes $1.2 million, but he’s had trouble staying healthy, and when he was healthy he had a brutal season. The highest number of games he’s played in the NHL was 53 games last season. That was also the year he gave up 3.22 goals per game and had a poor .894 save percentage.
I’m not going to consider trade options because there’s just too many variables and most trade rumors usually have no basis in reality. Sure, Manny Fernandez wants to be traded, but the Minnesota front office has shown no inclination to consider trading him. They basically laughed at him, saying “that’s just Manny being Manny”. Vesa Toskala and Ilya Bryzgalov were both mentioned as possible trade targets last summer and that obviously didn’t happen. So just take a quick look at the free agent goaltenders who will be available - it makes you appreciate Dominik Hasek that much more. There really isn’t a better option than having Dom come back next year.
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I agree, the list of tenders just doesn’t do anything for me. If Dom wants to come back, and he doesn’t want the kings ransom, then he’s the best option in my book. I did a blog about Dom, it’s my first one: The Case For Dom. Kind of along the lines of what you mentioned here.
I hope he comes back and comes back healthy. If so, I feel good with our goaltending. Better than I would having Osgood split it with some of the goalies on that list.