Do you have any numbers to support this, because it just doesn't sound true. A backup nowadays should be starting 25 games for you. The difference between having an elite backup and a Hutchinson has got to be worth several wins over those 25 games. That's more than the value that a good 3rd line winger will give you over a an average winger. Ie do we really get noticeably worse if we trade Mango or Kerfoot and draw in Moore? On the other hand, do we get notably better in those 10 remaining games or so that an elite backup would get over Hutch? There might be a 2-3 point difference between those goalies in those 10 games, and as of now a playoff spot looks like it might come down to that margin.
As a bonus, if we do get in the playoffs and Andy goes down...it's over for us, we might as well not play the rest of the series. With Grigs, there's at least a chance that he gets hot and steals games - we've seen this first hand.
Plus this guy does seem to have starter upside as a nice potential bonus to the deal. 23 is still prospect age. We're not buying a career backup.
My point was that I would rather pay a low price for a good backup and keep my good forward over giving up Johnsson or somebody for an "elite" backup. I agree we need an upgrade over Hutch.
League average SV% this year is .904. Most teams in the top 5-10 in SV% have a backup that has around a .910-.915 SV%.
If we use Hutch's workload this year (on pace to play 20 games), the difference between a .904 and a .914 SV% over that workload is just 4 goals.
If you take a goalie with a higher workload like a Jack Campbell who is on pace to play 30 games, the difference between a .904 SV% and a .914 SV% is just 8 goals over those 30 games. Randomly pick which games you want to take those from and at most you get a few more points, maybe.
The downgrade from Johnsson or Kerfoot to Moore is not worth an 8 goal spread from my backup goalie over the course of a full season. I am sure Johnsson or Kerfoot would influence more than that spread on offense pretty easily with Johnsson averaging 44 points per 82 games vs. Moores 23 points per 82 games.
Give up a mid-late round pick, get somebody decent, and keep all your firepower up front.
With Georgiev MAYBE you get a future starter, but it won't be this year or next and we really can't afford to give up good assets to wait and see if he can become that guy.