Generally speaking, extra depth is rarely a bad thing to have. That extra impact forward, carrying more than four top-four defensemen, these are often elements of successful teams. But that same argument doesn’t apply to goaltending as almost all of the time, carrying three is seen as less than ideal and teams will often move their extra option before too long.
San Jose is presently an exception to that idea as they’re carrying three NHL goaltenders in Kaapo Kahkonen, Adin Hill, and James Reimer. All three are on short-term deals (Reimer and Hill have one year left and Kahkonen two) and all three make between $2.1MM and $2.75MM. At least from a contract standpoint, they’re more or less interchangeable.
But Kahkonen was brought in from Minnesota at the trade deadline and then given the two-year deal so it stands to reason that they don’t want to move him. That leaves the 26-year-old Hill and the 34-year-old Reimer as their two trade options with the latter only making $75K more than the former. The Sharks might prefer to keep the younger Hill but his trade value might be better depending on who shows interest.
With that in mind, let’s examine some of the teams that might be interested in adding one of San Jose’s netminders even with most of the goalie movement being done for the summer.
Arizona
The Coyotes know they don’t have their backup goalie on the roster yet. Karel Vejmelka is unproven as a starter so adding a second netminder that could play close to half the games wouldn’t hurt. Yes, they’re a team with an eye on the future but they can still try to lose competitively. Would they trade for Hill after moving him to San Jose just over a year ago or would they prefer Reimer? If not one of them, they’ll be watching the waiver wire in October.
Minnesota
There isn’t a true opening with Marc-Andre Fleury as the starter and Filip Gustavsson as the backup but Gustavsson is coming off a tough 2021-22 campaign with Ottawa. Playing Fleury heavy minutes would carry some risk so while Gustavsson is the backup of the future, GM Bill Guerin might want to assess if they’d be better off with a more reliable second option even if it forces them to turn around and carry three goalies with Gustavsson now being waiver-eligible.
Philadelphia
Back in May, it looked like the Flyers had their goalie situation figured out as they were able to sign highly-touted prospect Ivan Fedotov to partner up with Carter Hart. However, the netminder is now serving in the Russian military which will take him out of the equation. Felix Sandstrom is likely next in line but has just five career NHL appearances under his belt. Philadelphia is looking for more short-term success so adding a more proven backup is something GM Chuck Fletcher will likely be looking into.
Vegas
Following the season-ending hip surgery for Robin Lehner, GM Kelly McCrimmon came out and said his intention is to go with Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit as their tandem. Thompson has shown promise but his NHL experience is limited while Brossoit has been hit and miss in his career. If things don’t go well early on, they could look to turn to San Jose for a chance at an upgrade.
Washington
This might seem a little odd considering that they just signed Charlie Lindgren to a three-year deal to be Darcy Kuemper’s backup. But Lindgren’s cap hit is right at the line of being fully buriable in the minors if a better option presents itself. Their LTIR situation with Nicklas Backstrom gives them some extra flexibility to add a short-term deal so if they trust Reimer or Hill over a goalie that has just 29 games of NHL experience and finished up the AHL playoffs as the backup, GM Brian MacLellan will likely check in on what that upgrade would cost.
Winnipeg
They added David Rittich as a low-cost backup early in free agency, handing him a one-year, $900K contract. That can be fully buried in the minors if a better option presents itself. The Jets still have considerable cap space at their disposal and are a team with an eye on winning in the present so if they aren’t able to add at other positions, turning around and upgrading Connor Hellebuyck’s backup would be a reasonable backup plan.
Obviously, not all of these teams are going to make a move between the pipes in the coming weeks so the options for GM Mike Grier are going to be limited. If he wants to get top value – the asking price for Reimer is believed to be a second-round pick – he might have to wait until the season starts to see if injuries force someone’s hand. Otherwise, it will be a limited market for whichever one he decides to move. Surplus quality depth at most positions is usually a good thing and could yield a strong return in a trade but for goaltenders, it’s just not the case.
Grier has said he has no problem keeping 3 netminders but he also said the Sharks are not going to enter a rebuild mode so based on those decisions the Sharks clearly hired him to manufacture history as the first black GM In NHL history, Not because he was the most qualified candidate.
Ok Wilf, who was the most qualified candidate?
Something is clear.
How in the hell does your mind so quickly go in this direction over typical GM posturing that they all do? Jesus Christ man
Nah, that’s just Wilf being Wilf. There isn’t any hiring at any level of anyone except a middle-aged white Canadian male where he won’t scream “Woke!” or claim some other ulterior motive. He seems to firmly believe that minorities and wimmen don’t have the “necessities” to understand hockey.
Racist people are racist.
Yeah, says the guy who says saving a man’s life with a liver Transplant is a mistake. Virtue signal much, Mr. Ghoul?
How did “wimmin” get in the conversation? Red herring much? The lack of logic amongst the libs here is truly jaw dropping.
The lack of PERCEPTION among the knuckledraggers here is truly jaw dropping. Guess you missed the news item about the Hamilton OHL team hiring a woman, which WP promptly trolled. You know where you can stick your “red herring.”
So we all have to be perfect people before we can call out bigotry and hatred? When you cannot attack the quality of the message, attack the messenger.
None are worth anything more than a very minor asset. I think they stay Sharks until eventually one is waived.
That guess did not age well.
Washington is set with their goalies in the AHL. They’re not adding another goalie & sending Lindgren to Hershey. The only way the Caps add a goalie is if there is a long term injury. They’re not trading for one of the Sharks goalies
Yeah, and it was NOT that Charlie Lindgren ended the playoffs as the backup. It’s that he and Hofer were platooned all along, and the coach went with whomever had the hot hand at any given time.
Bill Armstrong is just waiting for a waiver wire pickup for backup goalie — and it might be one of these Sharks. Wedgewood was a great waiver pickup last season that the Coyotes turned into a third-round pick from Dallas at the deadline.
Flyers don’t have enough cap space and I don’t see them paying a premium to have SJ retain salary just so they can get a backup.
The Sharks are collecting goalies like the SF Giants collect minor league catchers.
I think Kevin Weekes would have been a far better choice for the Sharks GM position.
So the 348 NHL career games played goaltender, who’s been in broadcasting and an *NHL insider* ever since he retired, and never spent a day or any time really in a NHL front office.
Would have been a better choice then the 1,060 NHL career games player who’s been a scout, assistant coach, and a hockey operations advisor since retiring before he did get the job as the Sharks GM?
You have a strange way of thinking a guy who had a lesser NHL career and not a ounce of front office experience makes them more qualified then the guy that actually got the job.
Uh Wilf, was he a candidate?
I guess my first response to this article was misunderstood but that’s okay, Some people just don’t know the difference between patronization and racism.
I don’t see any patronization or racism in your stuff. I see aimless, uninformed babbling.