The Free Agent Class of 2010 - Goaltenders
by PRC on Jul 23, 2009 10:21 PM CDT
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PrintFree agency this year has been a buyer's market with regard to goaltenders. Martin Biron took a 60% pay cut, while Manny Fernandez is still looking for work. If Biron's agent miscalculated the market for his client this year, what do things look like next year, when Biron is once again unrestricted?
Sorted by save percentage, here's your Class of 2010. (* Stats aggregated from the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.)
| The Free Agent Class of 2010 - Goaltenders (UFAs) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player Name | Age (2010) | Team | Cap Hit | GAA* | SV%* |
| Hiller, Jonas | 28 | ANA | $1,300,000 | 2.28 | 0.921 |
| Luongo, Roberto | 31 | VAN | $6,750,000 | 2.36 | 0.918 |
| Rinne, Pekka | 27 | NAS | $725,000 | 2.36 | 0.918 |
| Biron, Martin | 32 | NYI | $1,400,000 | 2.67 | 0.917 |
| Dubielewicz, Wade | 31 | MIN | $600,000 | 2.81 | 0.913 |
| Ellis, Dan | 30 | NAS | $1,750,000 | 2.62 | 0.913 |
| Valiquette, Steve | 32 | NYR | $725,000 | 2.54 | 0.911 |
| Danis, Yann | 29 | NJD | $500,000 | 2.86 | 0.910 |
| Niittymaki, Antero | 30 | TBL | $600,000 | 2.82 | 0.910 |
| Nabokov, Evgeni | 34 | SAN | $5,375,000 | 2.28 | 0.910 |
| Auld, Alex | 29 | DAL | $1,000,000 | 2.56 | 0.910 |
| Johnson, Brent | 33 | PIT | $525,000 | 2.75 | 0.908 |
| Mason, Chris | 34 | STL | $3,000,000 | 2.63 | 0.908 |
| Theodore, Jose | 33 | WAS | $4,500,000 | 2.66 | 0.905 |
| Turco, Marty | 34 | DAL | $5,700,000 | 2.59 | 0.903 |
| Sanford, Curtis | 30 | MTL | $600,000 | 2.69 | 0.903 |
| Sabourin, Dany | 29 | BOS | $600,000 | 2.80 | 0.902 |
| Leighton, Michael | 29 | CAR | $600,000 | 2.88 | 0.901 |
| Budaj, Peter | 27 | COL | $1,250,000 | 2.75 | 0.901 |
| Lalime, Patrick | 36 | BUF | $1,000,000 | 2.94 | 0.898 |
| Toskala, Vesa | 33 | TOR | $4,000,000 | 2.97 | 0.898 |
| Climie, Matt | 27 | DAL | $525,000 | 2.92 | 0.894 |
| Emery, Ray | 27 | PHI | $1,500,000 | 3.13 | 0.890 |
| Hedberg, Johan | 37 | ATL | $1,087,500 | 3.47 | 0.889 |
| Raycroft, Andrew | 30 | VAN | $500,000 | 3.42 | 0.886 |
| Krahn, Brent | 28 | DAL | $550,000 | 9.00 | 0.667 |
| Backlund, Johan | 28 | PHI | $800,000 | ||
| Brodeur, Mike | 27 | OTT | $520,000 | ||
| Munroe, Scott | 28 | NYI | $500,000 | ||
Some of these players obviously won't be re-signing NHL contracts. Patrick Lalime and Johan Hedberg are both over 35 with their best years behind them, so retirement looks likely. Others (Leighton, Sabourin, etc.) have been kicking around for a few years without finding stable work as a backup, and have been short-term, low-cost options for teams looking to fill a roster spot, so we probably won't see any bidding wars in 2010 for their services.
The real gems here are at the top, highlighted by a pair of players entering their prime (Pekka Rinne and Jonas Hiller) that are sure to cash in.
Prominent veterans also have their place on the list, and while some will likely re-sign with their current teams before the season ends (it would be difficult to picture Evgeni Nabokov anywhere other than San Jose, or Marty Turco anywhere other than Dallas), there are no guarantees.
The real question however, is whether there are enough vacancies to go around. Fortunately for Biron, it looks like he can probably sleep soundly knowing he can find work again next year. If not, there's always the KHL.
No vacancies
By my calculations, there are only 6 teams entirely set for the 2010-11 season: Columbus (Mason, Garon); Florida (Vokoun, Clemmensen); Montreal (Price, Halak); New York Islanders (Roloson, DiPietro); Ottawa (Leclaire, Elliott); Phoenix (Bryzgalov, Labarbera). All of the others have question marks, either because of aging veterans or because of inexperienced youngsters, or simply because they won't have anyone under contract.
Possibly looking for a starter?
Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, Philadelphia, San Jose, St. Louis, Toronto, Vancouver
Dallas, Nashville, San Jose and Vancouver are easy to reason - they've all got starters that will be UFAs. If Ray Emery is able to beat out Brian Boucher for the starter's role in 2009-10, the Flyers could be in the same situation.
Detroit is looking at a 37 year-old Chris Osgood that struggled mightily as a 35 year-old (3.09 GAA, 0.887 SV%). Behind him they'll have Jimmy Howard, who's never seemed to be ready to make the jump to the NHL.
Los Angeles and St. Louis both have players under contract, but none that could be considered marquee players at this point. The Kings have Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Quick, with Jonathan Bernier waiting in the wings. Solid, but unspectacular. St. Louis will be relying on Ty Conklin to mind the nets, but he's hardly a sure thing - at 33, he's clocked only 149 NHL games up to this point and has never been a full-time starter.
Toronto will also be relying on an unproven netminder in Jonas Gustavsson. If things work out the way Brian Burke hopes, then Gustavsson will be a No. 1 goalie in this league. If not, Burke has the option to look elsewhere.
Uncertain backup situations
Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington
A number of these teams may be counting on their younger players to step up. What happens if Jonas Hiller leaves Anaheim? Assuming J-S Giguere returns to form, who plays the supporting role - J-P Levasseur? Timo Pielmeier? In Carolina - Mike Murphy, Justin Peters? What happens in Minnesota with Josh Harding?
Finland has produced a number of top notch netminders recently. Can Rask (Boston), Niemi (Chicago), Helenius (Tampa Bay) continue the trend?
Who'll back up Ryan Miller and Marc-Andre Fleury? What about Martin Brodeur, who will be 38 - who will provide the insurance?
Will the Capitals want a veteran presence for Varlamov and/or Neuvirth?
A lot of questions. We could be looking at some musical chairs come Canada Day 2010.
Create your own scenarios
Download the Excel sheet here: Free Agent Class of 2010 - Goaltenders.
This item was created by a member of this blog's community and is not necessarily endorsed by From The Rink.
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"Without good hard work, it is impossible to reach the pinnacle of success." - Anatoli Tarasov
I don’t think that Luongo will make it to free agency so I voted for Hiller even though he has a brutal five-hole.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
Who’ll back up Ryan Miller
The easy answer is Jhonas Enroth, but he’s just as likely to be trade bait to a team needing a young starting goalie than to rot on the bench with Miller going nowhere.
So really, Buffalo’s going to be part of the reject goalie carousel again going forward post-Lalime.
If Anderson isn’t the answer in Colorado, I could see them asking for Enroth in a deadline deal. Colorado will have a lot of deadline parts ready to trade this season, and will probably be looking at building their goaltending depth regardless of Anderson.
The 2009-10 Colorado Avalanche: Aiming for the Charity Point
Jibblescribbits: C'mon over and waste some time
by Jibblescribbits on Jul 27, 2009 4:28 PM CDT up reply actions
So really, Buffalo’s going to be part of the reject goalie carousel again going forward post-Lalime
New Jersey has been on the same path the past 15 years, and I think most people would say that’s worked out alright.
by Mandmeisterx on Jul 28, 2009 6:09 AM CDT up reply actions
Well it helps that Brodeur has been the best* goalie in the NHL for the last 15 years.
*still active
Can't argue there,
but my point was mostly that if you have a good horse between the pipes, who you have to play those other 10-15 games a season isn’t always as important. Just trying to throw Miller a compliment. I’m a big fan. (Not that he’s in Brodeur’s class, but he’s still incredibly solid)
by Mandmeisterx on Jul 28, 2009 10:56 PM CDT up reply actions
Colorado/Buffalo
I don’t see Buffalo and the Av’s making a deal for Enroth. Darcy is way too cautious. Unless they came out with a really lopsided deal. Buffalo doesn’t have anyone else ready to back up Miller next year after Enroth. The rest of their goaltending prospects are way too young. We haven’t had a decent back up other than Biron and Conklin in years. Lalime was terrible last year. Why would you trade a chance to have a quality back up at a reasonable price when you had a terrible overpriced back up this past year. If we had even average goaltending when Miller went down last year, we would have made the playoffs. The difference between NJ and Buffalo is when Marty went down, guys stepped up. When Miller went down, so did our playoff hopes.
The difference between NJ and Buffalo is when Marty went down, guys stepped up. When Miller went down, so did our playoff hopes.
Yes and no.
I won’t disagree with the last point, where losing Miller meant “RIP playoff run”.
What I do disagree with is the Sabres in the last couple of years have not had the mental makeup to shake off that injury and get through it like the Devils did. They just kind of shrugged their shoulders, went on with their business, and seemed like they didn’t care (with a couple of exceptions of course) whether they missed the playoffs or not. That was actually a big news story at the end of the year (I wish I could find a link), that Miller was one of the only Sabres that were visibly PISSED that the team missed the playoffs. There was other players (say, like Pominville) that didn’t even seem like they cared. That’s the problem – guys didn’t step up because they’re not leaders. Fortunately, Darcy realized this and started bringing in big, tough players who are also tough mentally like Rivet and Montador: people who do not accept losing.
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