The music stops in the goalie musical chair game
The Senators should come out as winners getting Linus Ullmark
While planes flew over the cuckoo’s nest that is the Nation’s Capital Monday afternoon, money started to fly all over the place as usual on Canada Day.
With the imminent passage of the excellent website Capfriendly to the Washington Capitals, it’s going to get a bit harder to keep track of NHL teams’ spending for those who care about those kinds of things. Thankfully, retired sportswriters do not.
The most interesting part of the off season for me is always the goaltending game of musical chairs, now that the coaching carousel is pretty much all settled (I talked about that in a recent post, linked here).
Here in Ottawa, the Senators tried to right one of the worst mistakes Pierre Dorion made before new owner/goalie Michael Andlauer took over — and eventually fired him — by acquiring Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. Getting the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner in exchange for a guy who struggled last season, Joonas Korpisalo (retaining 25% of his $$ M salary for the next four years), plus a fourth line center in Mark Kastelic and a late first round pick (25th overall) was a tidy bit of business for new GM Steve Staios.
The fact that the Swedish goalie has only one more year on the contract he signed in Beantown after coming over from Buffalo ($5M salary) complicates things a bit. And it remains to be seen if he can put up the same kind of numbers that he had with the Bruins behind a Senators’ team that was not known for its defensive acumen under previous management/coaching.
Boston didn’t have much of a choice of splitting their excellent tandem of Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman after the latter showed in the playoffs that he could carry the load of a number one goalie, making all the difference in their series against the Maple Leafs.
“We made a decision that, you know, in this case, both goaltenders (Ullmark and Swayman) wanted to play 55 games. And that's tough, unless someone gets hurt, to have both guys be playing. So we wish him well”, explained B’s GM Linus Don Sweeney once the deal was completed.
I wrote it last summer in Le Droit when Swayman was a restricted free agent, Ottawa should have offered him a contract to try and force the Bruins’ hand a year early, as they are a division rival. The cost in draft picks would have been worth it to get a young goalie who looks like the second coming of Carey Price.
At least this time, the Senators didn’t have to overpay for a solution to their goalie graveyard that has been revived since Craig Anderson was let go (prematurely, it turned out). New Jersey getting Jacob Markstrom from Calgary before — for ex-67 Kevin Bahl and a first round pick in 2025 — left Boston without many options, especially once Washington dumped Darcy Kuemper (sent to Los Angeles for Pierre-Luc Dubois) and turned around and acquired Logan Thompson from Vegas (for two 3rd round picks).
Matt Murray was part of that graveyard and you had to raise an eyebrow when the Leafs re-signed him “for depth” at a salary of $875 000 (one way, meaning he’ll be paid as much to play for the Marlies as for the Leafs), after a full season recovering from hip surgery. Joseph Woll will be the new starter if he can stay healthy, with Stanley Cup champion Anthony Stolarz (signed Monday) as his backup. Ilya Samsonov is gone, signed by the Golden Knights to replace Thompson and pair up with Adin Hill. Unless former Senator and 2-pad (Sub)stack favorite Robin Lehner can make a comeback after a year on long-term IR.
There have been 22 goalies signed in all on July 1st and 2nd, and some are quite interesting:
Juuse Saros, the smallest G in the NHL, signed an eight year extension for $61.9 M$ to stay in Nashville with newly acquired Steven Stamkos, blocking the way for prospect Yaroslav Askarov, who might be on the trading block;
Jack Campbell, bought out by the Oilers, finds a new home in Detroit, where the Red Wings have also brought in former Senator (briefly) Cam Talbot; at a reasonable price ($5 M for two years);
Eric Comrie is out in Buffalo and he goes back for a third tour of duty in Winnipeg, replacing Laurent Brossoit as Vezina trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck’s caddie. In the department of “what are they thinking?”, the Chicago Blackhawks signed Brossoit, an eternal backup, to a two year deal at $3,3 M per season;
The Sabres are also puzzling as they seem to be blocking the way for prospect Devon Levi by signing veterans James Reimer and Felix Sanstrōm;
Finally, the Panthers might have a good bargain by bringing back former Senators’ prospect Chris Driedger, whom they had lost to Seattle in the expansion draft, as an insurance policy for Stanley Cup winner Sergei Bobrovsky and prospect Spencer Knight. Driedger made a nice come back from injury this year, leading the Kraken’s AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley to the Calder Cup finals. He will make $795 000 next season on a one-way deal to probably wait in the wings in Charlotte of the AHL.
Sept cerbères canadiens repêchés
Tous ces mouvements de personnel devant le filet sont survenus avant et après le repêchage amateur tenu à Las Vegas.
Les gardiens n’avaient pas la cote lors de cet encan, aucun n’étant choisi au premier tour. Seulement sept Canadiens ont trouvé preneurs, incluant un seul et unique Québécois, Louka Cloutier, de Sherbrooke, sélectionné en cinquième ronde par l’Avalanche du Colorado.
Son cas est particulier alors qu’il s’est tourné vers le circuit junior américain, la USHL, pour poursuivre son développement avec le Steel de Chicago, au lieu de passer par la LHJMQ. Il s’est déjà engagé à se joindre ensuite à l’Université du Nebraska-Omaha en vue de la saison 2025-2026. À la différence des cerbères sortant de la Ligue canadienne de hockey, qui doivent signer un contrat deux ans après leur sélection sinon ils doivent retourner au repêchage, il aura tout son temps pour s’entendre avec l’Avalanche.
Cloutier aura de la compétition pour faire son chemin dans l’organisation du Colorado puisque le premier gardien choisi, Ilya Nabokov (2e ronde), se retrouve aussi avec l’Avalanche. Il est un de huit cerbères russes sélectionnés, 10 si on comprend le Bélarus et la Lettonie. Le seul provenant de la LHJMQ est un Russe, Jakub Milota, des Screaming Eagles du Cap-Breton.
L’an dernier, un seul Québécois, le Montréalais Quentin Miller (passé de Québec à Rimouski la saison dernière), avait entendu son nom être prononcé, par le Canadien. En 2022, il n’y avait eu aucun gardien québécois sélectionné.
Après une dernière saison l’an prochain, Marc-André Fleury n’aura pas beaucoup de successeurs à qui tendre son flambeau, outre Samuel Montembeault. On en reparlera en plus long et large une autre fois… et ailleurs.