What do Florida fans consider Driedger's ceiling to be? I don't know enough about the guy to judge him accurately other than he's been playing well and had a good stint last year too.
And I guess with Knight waiting in the wings and Bobrovsky not going anywhere, Driedger becomes expendable?
26 total NHL games, 23 of those with FLA.
He's been solid, just a big body who's calm for the most part in the net.
Not swimming in the crease, very compact movement and stays big in the net when he drops to his knees. Really good rebound control, decent enough handling the puck.
Usually very square to the shooter.
Not too many weaknesses to his game that have been uncovered so far, which may come with a bigger workload.
His ceiling is likely a 1b option which he is doing right now, 35-45 games, maybe just maybe he has starter potential in him (50+ games) but any UFA teams shouldn't offer more than 2-3 years just in case he is a mirage.
My belief he isn't a mirage is because he plays beyond an average defense on FLA and has sparkling numbers, you put him behind an even better defense and he would do even better.
I heard a story that he wasn't committed a couple years back to working out and putting in extra time but a goalie coach (can't remember who right now) got on him and took the blinders off.
I'd be surprised if Zito doesn't try and bring him back on a 2-3 year deal around $3 mil per, a stopgap until Spencer Knight is ready in one or two years.