I’d keep Cory because I’m not certain how much salary we need to reach the cap floor- without looking and making projections for extensions.
That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t utilize free agency to get a backup. However, I just don’t see an attractive option coming here.
Personally, I can’t see Lehner coming here , as Mac looks to have a grip on the starting job. He’ll get paid by someone, somewhere he’ll play more. I also feel like a few other options will extend with their current clubs if they aren’t going to get paid more to go elsewhere. This would leave the market full of aging goalies like Cory (Crawford, Khudobin, Halak, Greiss, Howard, Craig Anderson, Mike Smith, etc.)
So, maybe sign/pto an average level backup and let them compete with Cory for the job. Maybe it’s recency bias, but I believe some clubs are also going to be looking to address goalie depth beyond just their backup. This is due to the amount of injuries league wide. There have been so many, and a lot of those teams are on the playoff bubble, like Arizona, Carolina, Toronto, Vancouver, Columbus, Buffalo, Rangers (to an extent with Shesterkin being injured once besides the accident), Colorado (not a bubble team, but things could’ve been worse if Francouz didn’t hold the fort down).
For the injury factor alone, I’d think I’d keep Cory hanging around, so you have two guys you’re content with if Mac gets banged up. Hell... Cory will likely be the one ending up injured.
