Gorilla Crouch

I briefly touched on Ken Holland’s remarks regarding the backup goaltending spot when I took a look at the UFA who are likely to be available as of July 1. Holland indicated he’d be comfortable with Jimmy Howard as the backup but that he’s also considering other options, including the acquisition of a goaltender via trade. Let’s take a quick look at some of the options available.

Going the Trade Route

Trying to guess how a trade would work is difficult at best. What I’ll do is look at some potential backup tenders who fit Holland’s stated goal of finding a guy with a very reasonable contract.

All information is taken from NHL Numbers.

Backup Tenders

Player	Team	Age	2008 Salary	Years remaining
Jonas Hiller	Anaheim	25	$1.3mm	2 years
Tim Thomas	Boston	33	$1.1mm	1 year
Fredrik Norrena	Columbus	32	$0.9mm	1 year
Peter Budaj	Colorado	24	$0.8mm	1 year
Mathieu Garon	Edmonton	29	$1.1mm	1 year
Antero Niittymaki	Philadelphia	27	$1.38mm	1 year
Mikael Tellqvist	Phoenix	28	$0.8mm	1 year
Mike Smith	Tampa	25	$0.95mm	1 year
Brent Johnson	Washington	30	$0.83mm	1 year

Hiller doesn’t have as much experience as I’m sure Ken Holland would like and the fact the ink ain’t even dry on that new contract means he isn’t going anywhere. With Tim Thomas he’d be intriguing except for the fact the B’s would probably like to keep him and his very reasonable contract and send Emo-boy Manny Fernandez and his albatross of a contract to another team. There’s no chance the Wings would take a flyer on Fernandez.

Fredrik Norrena is actually a pretty interesting option other than the fact he plays in the Central. He doesn’t have a ton of NHL experience but he’s done well overseas and it would be interesting to see how he’d do in a training camp battle against Howard for the #2 slot. He’s 33 and Leclaire is the obvious #1 so a trade might be possible, although it is probably unlikely as the BJs wouldn’t have a proven #2 to spell Leclaire, unless they think Steve Mason is close to being ready for the NHL. I doubt it given the fact he’s all of 19 years old. Peter Budaj is currently the #2 in Colorado but I don’t see any way the Wings could work a trade to acquire him. He could end up being their top netminder next season.

The Edmonton goaltending situation is almost identical to the Bruins, where Garon would be a cheap #2 but the Oil would probably prefer to trade Roli’s contract and keep Garon as their main goaltender. Niittymaki would be an interesting pickup although you have to think the Flyers would want to keep him given his very reasonable salary. They are paying less than $5mm per season for goaltending which ain’t bad. But if they think Scott Munroe is in a position to make the big club this could be a trade that helps them buy some cap space.

Mikael Tellqvist doesn’t have quite as much NHL experience but could be a good guy to battle with Howard for the #2 spot. The question is whether the Yotes want to trade him. If they feel like Al Montoya is ready to backup Ilya Bryzgalov then this could be a trade that works for both teams. Mike Smith is likely the #1 in Tampa after Denis was put through waivers last season. Add in his very reasonable contract and he obviously isn’t available. Brent Johnson is a capable backup to Cristobal Huet so the odds of him getting moved seem pretty slim as their top goaltending prospect is a 20 year old and hasn’t played in North America yet.

So what does that leave us with? My guess is the following guys a) would be possible to acquire via trade and b) would be most attractive to the Red Wings if they try to acquire a netminder via a trade.

1. Antero Niittymaki: Nitty has plenty of NHL experience and played 28 games last year as a backup for the Flyers. This is exactly the amount of playing time Chris Osgood’s backup will get this season. The biggest issue with him is that he didn’t do well during his one foray into the playoffs in 2005. But his production last year was good enough where he would be a solid #2 in Detroit.

2. Tim Thomas: Thomas really came on this past season where he had an excellent .921 save percentage. He was also solid for Boston in the playoff series against Montreal. If the B’s are sold on Fernandez as their #1 goaltender and feel confident about the younger netminders they have in the pipeline then this could be a good trade for both teams.

3. Fredrik Norrena: He played 37 games but had a horrific .896 save percentage. Given how good Pascal Leclaire was for the BJs it isn’t clear that Norrena would be an obvious improvement over Howard. Tough to justify that trade.

4. Mikael Tellqvist: Tellqvist played 22 games for the Yotes last season which is in the neighborhood as far as the amount of playing time Detroit’s #2 netminder will receive. But like Nitty he wasn’t good in his last playoff experience, and for Tellqvist that was in the AHL. Howard’s last appearance in the AHL playoffs was actually pretty solid. It isn’t clear that he’d be an upgrade over Howard, so you really have to doubt that this trade makes any sense.

So the bottom-line when it comes to the trade route is that Antero Niittymaki and Tim Thomas look like the best options available. They both had solid seasons last year and might be available since both teams have solid goaltenders in the pipeline who can fill the backup goalie position for less money.

goaltending Red Wings

June 11th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave

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