Senator Stanley
Registered User
Beggars can't be choosers.
There aren't many proven backup or #2 type goalies available. Forsberg played 30 games this season with an .890 save percentage. Here is a list of upcoming UFA goalies who played 10+ games with an .890+ save percentage.
PLAYER TEAM AGE POS HANDED GP G A P P/GP +/- Sh Sh% TOI W L SO GAA Sv% CLAUSE EXPIRY CAP HIT SALARY 1. Laurent Brossoit WPG 31 G Left 23 - - - - - - - - 15 5 3 2.00 .927 UFA $1,750,000 $1,750,000 2. Anthony Stolarz FLA 30 G Left 27 - - - - - - - - 16 7 2 2.03 .925 UFA $1,100,000 $1,100,000 3. David Rittich LAK 31 G Left 24 - - - - - - - - 13 6 3 2.16 .921 UFA $875,000 $875,000 4. Cam Talbot LAK 36 G Left 54 - - - - - - - - 27 20 3 2.50 .913 NTC UFA $1,000,000 $1,000,000 5. Calvin Pickard EDM 32 G Left 23 - - - - - - - - 12 7 1 2.45 .909 UFA $762,500 $775,000 6. Kevin Lankinen NSH 29 G Left 24 - - - - - - - - 11 6 1 2.82 .908 UFA $2,000,000 $2,000,000 7. James Reimer DET 36 G Left 25 - - - - - - - - 11 8 2 3.11 .904 M-NTC UFA $1,500,000 $1,500,000 8. Martin Jones TOR 34 G Left 22 - - - - - - - - 11 8 2 2.87 .902 UFA $875,000 $875,000 9. Alex Nedeljkovic PIT 28 G Left 38 - - - - - - - - 18 7 1 2.97 .902 UFA $1,500,000 $1,500,000 10. Scott Wedgewood DAL 31 G Left 32 - - - - - - - - 16 7 0 2.85 .899 UFA $1,000,000 $1,000,000 11. Kaapo Kähkönen NJD 27 G Left 37 - - - - - - - - 7 24 1 3.64 .898 UFA $2,750,000 $2,900,000 12. Ivan Prosvetov COL 25 G Left 11 - - - - - - - - 4 3 0 3.16 .895 UFA
Group 6$775,000 $775,000 13. Casey DeSmith VAN 32 G Left 29 - - - - - - - - 12 9 1 2.89 .895 UFA $1,800,000 $1,900,000 14. Ilya Samsonov TOR 27 G Left 40 - - - - - - - - 23 7 3 3.13 .890 UFA $3,550,000 $3,550,000
Once you take away the top 3-5 goalie free agents, who will be in a position to get term and pick their destination, it's a real bottom of the barrel type crop. There simply are not a lot of options for proven NHL goalies. A chunk of these goalies will stay with their current teams. There might only be a few realistic options for someone who wants a proven 20-30+ game backup, but doesn't want to get into a bidding war for Stolarz, or given out a lot of term.
Come the draft, if a team can throw Ottawa a late pick for Forsberg, that's something someone is going to consider when you look at the above crop. If he had 2 or 3 years of term, I don't think he would be moveable. As a pending UFA, he will be a fit somewhere.
Fair enough. Personally, I would bet on a bottom of the barrel free agent before I'd bet on this version of Forsberg at $2.75M, but I see your logic and would be happy - as a Sens fan - if someone took him off our books.