Speculation: 2014-2015 Back-up goalie

[Flamesarmstrong22]

With Burke pretty much addressing today that the flames will need a backup next season for Ramo, I was wondering who you guys were hoping it would be?

Few names I could think of:
Jonas Gustavvson(UFA)- young goalie who was actually brought to North America by Burke

James Reimer(RFA)- a goalie Burke admittedly was a fan of during his time in toronto. Would be more of 1B/1B scenario with Ramo.

Brian Elliot(UFA)- nice vet backup.

Joey Macdonald- could always be brought back I guess.

Any others??

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[FLAMES666]

Al Montoya

Ray Emery - would be perfect to start for those Canuck games next year

 

[Mr Lebowski]

It sounded like Ortio wasn't going to backup based on Burkes comments, Gusatvson? Hiller? Tough Q

 

[Trae]

Budaj. Book it.

 

[Yung Rotini]

It sounded like Ortio wasn't going to backup based on Burkes comments, Gusatvson? Hiller? Tough Q

Hiller would be starter if he signed here.

 

[DouglasQuaid]

Budaj. Book it.

He's a black belt isn't he? Truculence.

 

[Pirate King Luffy]

Joey Stacks.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I could absolutely see Gus, makes a lot sense given our needs.

 

[TheHudlinator]

Given how upset people are with Halak not wanting to play against the blues (and being traded twice) he could be the prefect 1B goalie to sign for 1 year to push Ramo. We could even flip him at the deadline.

 

[Bouma Fett*]

I think it will possibly be Gus. I'd like Elliott though, he's great as long as it's not a full starter role. Might struggle with our defense, but a one year deal would be nice

 

[JagrBomber]

Gus would be neat. Good to have a guy that can play well in case Ramo goes down in the playoffs.

(but not really)

 

[JagrBomber]

But seriously, if I could pick, Gus.

 

[MonahanTheMan]

I'd like Elliott the best out of all those. I think goaltending is our biggest deficiency going forward, actually.

 

[Flamesarmstrong22]

I'd like Elliott the best out of all those. I think goaltending is our biggest deficiency going forward, actually.

I believe the organization has it's fingers crossed that Ramo can hold the fort for a couple more seasons until Gilles is ready to take over

 

[Lunatik]

Why do so many people want Gustafsson? He is having a career year with the Wings and only has a 2.63GAA and .907SV% that is not good at all and at 29 with 5 years in the league I don't see him improving a great deal.

I'm not a fan of his but Reimer makes much more sense than Gustavsson.

Here is a list of all UFA & RFA goaltenders this summer:

Player | Pos | Team | Age | Cap Hit | Expiry
Bachman, Richard » | G | EDM | 26 | $625,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Berube, Jean-Francois » | G | LAK | 22 | $552,500 | 2014 (RFA)
Bobkov, Igor » | G | ANA | 23 | $870,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Brodeur, Martin » | G | NJD | 41 | $4,500,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Bryzgalov, Ilya » | G | MIN | 33 | $2,266,234 | 2014 (UFA)
Cannata, Joe » | G | VAN | 24 | $900,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Clemmensen, Scott » | G | FLA | 36 | $1,200,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Clermont, Maxime » | G | NJD | 22 | $572,500 | 2014 (RFA)
Curry, John » | G | MIN | 30 | $550,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Danis, Yann » | G | PHI | 32 | $675,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Delmas, Peter » | G | MTL | 24 | $608,333 | 2014 (RFA)
Desjardins, Cedrick » | G | TBL | 28 | $650,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Dubnyk, Devan » | G | MTL | 27 | $3,500,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Elliott, Brian » | G | STL | 29 | $1,800,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Emery, Ray » | G | PHI | 31 | $1,650,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Giguere, Jean-Sebastien » | G | COL | 36 | $1,500,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Greiss, Thomas » | G | PHX | 28 | $750,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Gustavsson, Jonas » | G | DET | 29 | $1,500,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Hackett, Matthew » | G | BUF | 24 | $715,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Halak, Jaroslav » | G | WAS | 28 | $3,750,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Heeter, Cal » | G | PHI | 25 | $950,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Hiller, Jonas » | G | ANA | 32 | $4,500,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Hutchinson, Michael » | G | WPG | 24 | $600,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Hutton, Carter » | G | NAS | 28 | $550,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Johnson, Chad » | G | BOS | 27 | $600,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Khabibulin, Nikolai » | G | CHI | 41 | $2,000,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Kinkaid, Keith » | G | NJD | 24 | $550,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Knapp, Connor » | G | BUF | 23 | $712,500 | 2014 (RFA)
Kuemper, Darcy » | G | MIN | 23 | $900,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Labarbera, Jason » | G | CHI | 34 | $1,000,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Lawson, Nathan » | G | OTT | 30 | $650,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Leggio, David » | G | WAS | 29 | $550,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Lehner, Robin » | G | OTT | 22 | $870,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Leneveu, David » | G | NYR | 30 | $550,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Lindback, Anders » | G | TBL | 25 | $1,800,000 | 2014 (RFA)
MacDonald, Joey » | G | CGY | 34 | $925,000 | 2014 (UFA)
MacIntyre, Drew » | G | TOR | 30 | $600,000 | 2014 (UFA)
McElhinney, Curtis » | G | CLB | 30 | $600,000 | 2014 (UFA)
McKenna, Mike » | G | CLB | 31 | $595,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Millan, Kieran » | G | COL | 24 | $875,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Miller, Ryan » | G | STL | 33 | $6,250,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Missiaen, Jason » | G | NYR | 23 | $750,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Montoya, Al » | G | WPG | 29 | $601,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Murphy, Mike » | G | CAR | 25 | $550,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Nabokov, Evgeni » | G | NYI | 38 | $3,250,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Nilsson, Anders » | G | NYI | 24 | $1,750,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Nilstorp, Cristopher » | G | DAL | 30 | $725,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Ortio, Joni » | G | CGY | 22 | $812,500 | 2014 (RFA)
Pasquale, Edward » | G | WPG | 23 | $575,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Patterson, Kent » | G | COL | 24 | $875,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Peters, Justin » | G | CAR | 27 | $537,500 | 2014 (UFA)
Poulin, Kevin » | G | NYI | 24 | $577,500 | 2014 (RFA)
Raanta, Antti » | G | CHI | 24 | $1,400,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Reimer, James » | G | TOR | 26 | $1,800,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Reiter, Ken » | G | NYI | 27 | $550,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Roy, Olivier » | G | CGY | 22 | $700,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Sateri, Harri » | G | SJS | 24 | $600,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Smith, Jeremy » | G | CLB | 25 | $550,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Stajcer, Scott » | G | NYR | 22 | $700,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Stalock, Alex » | G | SJS | 26 | $625,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Svedberg, Niklas » | G | BOS | 24 | $1,000,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Thomas, Tim » | G | DAL | 39 | $3,750,000 | 2014 (UFA)
Tokarski, Dustin » | G | MTL | 24 | $575,000 | 2014 (RFA)
Vokoun, Tomas » | G | PIT | 37 | $2,000,000 | 2014 (UFA)

 

[JagrBomber]

I remember one time I did a sim be a gm in NHL 14 Hutchison got up to a 94 in two years, so, maybe trade for his rights?!

 

[Flamesfan13]

Maybe we go for Darcy Kuemper out of Minnesota??

 

[Zirakzigil]

Wouldn't surprise me to see Mac brought back for another year. I am glad they want Ortio in the AHL to play instead of riding the bench.

 

[Richi]

I´m going out on a limb here:

Candidate 1:
Emery: A veteran Back-up who could easily step in and take the responsibility as a starter. Also brings some more trulucence to the team

Candidate 2:
Brodeur: He might see a chance to become a starter here. Could also share the Back-up role with Ortio at some point, providing some excellent knowledge. I don't think any playoff team will offer him a contract and so if he decides not to retire he might join a team far away from New Jersey

I could also see Thomas, Clemmensen and Greiss as possible candidates.

 

[Lunatik]

My prediction.

James Reimer to the Flames at the draft for the Penguins 3rd

 

[Taranis]

As much as I am not a fan of Reimer, I would be okay with the price of Pittsburghs third.

 

[Nordberg]

Dubnyk

 

[JulianHopper*]

Hope it's not James Reimer and Joey MacDonald I believe won't be returning.

I'm still thinking it will be Jonas Hiller or maybe even Peter Budaj.

They're both older but can still play and would make a lot more sense for them to be a backup if Karri Ramo is the starter.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

I don't think I want Reimer. We need a stop gap until Ortio is ready. Joey Mac is good with whereever he is playing, NHL or AHL. He is a good mentor to the other goalies. Ortio could get most of the games in Abby, and even some NHL time here/there. With Reimer he's going to be looking longer contract which I hope we don't offer.
Run with the goalies we already have, promote Ortio & Gillies next year.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

My prediction.

James Reimer to the Flames at the draft for the Penguins 3rd

The reason I'm not sold on Reimer is that I think he wants to be a starter wherever he ends up. We obviously want someone to push Ramo, but I think that guy to push him is already here in Ortio. I'd be fine with Gus because he is a quality backup, nothing more. He would know his place here and would not create a problem in the dressing room. Burke also has a history with him so I think he would be happy to sign here.

I don't want the Flames to try and get another starter because I think Ramo played so well down the stretch and he deserves a real opportunity to be the guy.