Speculation: Driedger's future

[42]

In 34 NHL games played Driedger has .931 SV%. He has clearly outplayed Bob this year, and last year towards the end, and has looked amazing in his short NHL career so far. With Florida committed to Bob and Knight having just signed his ELC, I don't see Driedger staying in Florida past this season because he's a UFA and most certainly another team will take a chance on him and offer more money and a clearer path to the starting job.

So which teams are likely destinations? My guess is that something like 2 years at 3 million per year would do it.

I have four teams as the most likely to sign him: Edmonton, Toronto, San Jose and Boston with Arizona, Colorado and Carolina possible but less likely. What are your thoughts?

Calgary - no. Markstrom.
Edmonton - yes. Koskinen and Stalock are signed for one more year but they both suck and Driedger would be a huge improvement.
Montreal - no. Price and Allen.
Ottawa - no. Murray plus I think Driedger would prefer to sign somewhere more competitive.
Toronto - yes. Just Campbell signed for one more year.
Vancouber - no. Demko.
Winnipeg - no. Hellebuyck.

Anaheim - no. Gibson is there for the foreseeable future.
Arizona - maybe. Kuemper signed for 2021 but he has proven injury-prone over the last year or so.
Colorado - maybe. Only Francouz signed for 2021 and if Grubauer gets greedy, the Avs may prefer to go with the cheaper option.
L.A. - no. Quick and Petersen and especially Peterson whom I see as the future in L.A.
Minnesota - no. Talbot and Kahkonen.
San Jose - yes. Jones is signed for a few more years but he sucks.
St. Louis - no. Binnington.
Vegas - no. Lehner.

Carolina - maybe. No goalie signed for 2021. Nedeljekovic is RFA and they could choose to go with him.
Chicago - no. Lankinen seems to be their goalie of the future.
Columbus - no. Elvis and Korpisalo.
Dallas - no. Too many goalies, although one might get snatched by Seattle.
Detroit - no. Just Greiss signed in 2021 but I feel Driedger would prefer a more competitive team.
Nashville - no. Saros.
Tampa - no. Vasilevsky.

Boston - yes. Rask and Halak are both UFAs and likely gone, especially Rask. Can they trust their youngsters?
Buffalo - no. Driedger would want a more competitive team. Ullmark is probably going to re-sign.
NJ - no. Blackwood.
NYI - no. Varlamov and Sorokin.
NYR - no. Shesterkin.
Philadephia - no. I feel they are still committed to Hart and believe he can rebound.
Pittsburgh - no. Jarry.
Washington - no. I think they are going to trust in Samsonov.

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[Brodeur]

I think you'd add Seattle to that list, I vaguely recall one of the TSN guys saying they were keeping their eye on him already.

 

[42]

I think you'd add Seattle to that list, I vaguely recall one of the TSN guys saying they were keeping their eye on him already.

I forgot about Seattle

 

[Brodeur]

I forgot about Seattle

I'm getting used to it too. I was looking at a recent draft and saw picks 61/62 in the 2nd round and thought to myself "I don't remember there being compensatory picks" before realizing there's 31 teams in the league.

My CapFriendly mock draft had Seattle taking Jake Allen, Anton Khudobin, and Adin Hill. If I were in those shoes, I'd try to lure Driedger either before the Draft or in free agency then trade one of the excess goalies for a pick/prospect/slice of pizza.

New Jersey could use somebody to split starts with Blackwood. We certainly could have used Corey Crawford this season to help lighten the load. Depending on Driedger's asking price, I wouldn't rule it out (post-expansion draft if he makes it that far). We were going to pay Crawford 4.2 million next season before he retired.

 

[Zippy316]

I could definitely see the Devils getting into this.

Blackwood is a terrific goalie, but to date, he's shown he needs adequate rest to be most effective. Devils planned on having Crawford split starts with him but since he retired, we were left with Wedgewood and then pulling guys off the waiver wire which has panned out exactly as expected.

Devils could offer him a couple years and promise to give him something close to something close either a 50-50 split or something close to 30 games vs. 50 games for Blackwood. His limited experience -- although he's posted terrific numbers -- might hold back some teams on offering a bigger role than that.

 

[42]

Yeah, I can see this from the Devils' side. Would Driedger be enticed, though, given that he's not going to be the clear number one? I imagine he'd want a clearer path to the starter's role plus perhaps a more competitive team?

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Would love for the Sharks to take a flyer on him.

Sidenote, how the hell does Jones still have several years left on his deal? I swear that it feels like we’re going on year 15 of that thing.

 

[42]

Would love for the Sharks to take a flyer on him.

Sidenote, how the hell does Jones still have several years left on his deal? I swear that it feels like we’re going on year 15 of that thing.

Yeah, Jones has 3 years left after this season. He's been a Shark even before his current contract so I know why it feels forever.

 

[Brodeur]

Yeah, I can see this from the Devils' side. Would Driedger be enticed, though, given that he's not going to be the clear number one? I imagine he'd want a clearer path to the starter's role plus perhaps a more competitive team?

Definitely would understand that from his point of view, I'd imagine we'd be a fallback option rather than a primary one for him.

 

[Dread Clawz]

I think it'll be Edmonton or San Jose.

 

[themelkman]

Sharks will call for sure. Anything north of like 3.5 mil is going to be a no though

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

1b in Toronto ?

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Of course only if we can come to an agreement during that 48 hour negotiation window before the expansion draft.

 

[Mersss]

I'm getting used to it too. I was looking at a recent draft and saw picks 61/62 in the 2nd round and thought to myself "I don't remember there being compensatory picks" before realizing there's 31 teams in the league.

My CapFriendly mock draft had Seattle taking Jake Allen, Anton Khudobin, and Adin Hill. If I were in those shoes, I'd try to lure Driedger either before the Draft or in free agency then trade one of the excess goalies for a pick/prospect/slice of pizza.

New Jersey could use somebody to split starts with Blackwood. We certainly could have used Corey Crawford this season to help lighten the load. Depending on Driedger's asking price, I wouldn't rule it out (post-expansion draft if he makes it that far). We were going to pay Crawford 4.2 million next season before he retired.

Allen will not be exposed, Price will waive, fircing SEA to either pick Byron or Chiarot

 

[BlueBaron]

I forgot about Seattle

Yes, Seattle makes this a tough thread. My team won't trade for a goalie until after the expansion draft.

 

[Voight]

I think you'd add Seattle to that list, I vaguely recall one of the TSN guys saying they were keeping their eye on him already.

They could also give him a long term deal at a high salary, since they have an open cap sheet and probably dont expect to compete right away.

 

[Gregsky99]

They could also give him a long term deal at a high salary, since they have an open cap sheet and probably dont expect to compete right away.

I’d say they would expect to compete. If Vegas can do it, Seattle would.

 

[VijayPatel11]

Or he could stay in Florida for 1 year...
Knight likely isn't ready for an NHL job, plus he would probably get more starts than Bob if he keeps playing well

 

[HBK27]

Or he could stay in Florida for 1 year...
Knight likely isn't ready for an NHL job, plus he would probably get more starts than Bob if he keeps playing well

Seems like it would be better to cash in on a multi-year deal versus going 1 year with Florida.

I could see NJ being interested and they have plenty of cap space to offer him a good salary, though they probably only go 2-3 years and he would be the backup to Blackwood (though still getting a good amount of games).

Not sure how many teams will be willing to go all-in on Driedger as their starter and give him a hefty 4-year contract after a 30-something game sample size and knowing that goalies are voodoo, especially when they switch teams. There have been some very mixed results in recent years - Scott Darling is the most obvious case of buyer beware. He had 75 games experience with Chicago before signing with Carolina (though I know there were other circumstances that don't apply in Driedger's case). Cam Talbot had 57 games with the Rangers before the Oilers took a chance. He was good the first 2 seasons, not so good in year 3 and lost his starting job by year 4. Bobrovsky had 83 games with the Flyers before going to the Blue Jackets and was phenomenal, though his subsequent move to the Panthers shows how goalies can also struggle going to new systems/teams. Not sure if Raanta fits in with this as he had 92 games across 4 seasons before going to Arizona to be their starter where he flourished year 1 but the lost the starting job due to injuries and the play of Kuemper.

What are some other examples of goalies with limited experience signing with another team to be their starter?

 

[BloFan4Life]

Buffalo will be all over him and hopes to trade for him before expansion draft so they can protect him.

Ullmark gets hurt too much.

 

[42]

Sharks will call for sure. Anything north of like 3.5 mil is going to be a no though

I think 3.5 is the absolute max. He still needs to prove himself. My guess is that 2 or 3 years at around $3 million per would do it.

 

[42]

1b in Toronto ?

Behind Campbell? I think he'd be a 1a and probably get at least 60% of the starts.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Behind Campbell? I think he'd be a 1a and probably get at least 60% of the starts.

Drieger is actually putting up even better numbers that Campbell and did so last year too.

 

[Voight]

I’d say they would expect to compete. If Vegas can do it, Seattle would.

Vegas was an anomaly. Every other expansion team in recent history has been awful.

 

[violaswallet]

Seems like it would be better to cash in on a multi-year deal versus going 1 year with Florida.

I could see NJ being interested and they have plenty of cap space to offer him a good salary, though they probably only go 2-3 years and he would be the backup to Blackwood (though still getting a good amount of games).

Not sure how many teams will be willing to go all-in on Driedger as their starter and give him a hefty 4-year contract after a 30-something game sample size and knowing that goalies are voodoo, especially when they switch teams. There have been some very mixed results in recent years - Scott Darling is the most obvious case of buyer beware. He had 75 games experience with Chicago before signing with Carolina (though I know there were other circumstances that don't apply in Driedger's case). Cam Talbot had 57 games with the Rangers before the Oilers took a chance. He was good the first 2 seasons, not so good in year 3 and lost his starting job by year 4. Bobrovsky had 83 games with the Flyers before going to the Blue Jackets and was phenomenal, though his subsequent move to the Panthers shows how goalies can also struggle going to new systems/teams. Not sure if Raanta fits in with this as he had 92 games across 4 seasons before going to Arizona to be their starter where he flourished year 1 but the lost the starting job due to injuries and the play of Kuemper.

What are some other examples of goalies with limited experience signing with another team to be their starter?

Darling is probably the guy people are worry about.

I think Judge is likely gone unless the market won't give him a long-term contract. More than 2 years, I think he goes somewhere else. Only one year? I think he returns. Two years, probably leaves