The Calgary Flames will head into this year’s NHL Draft with the sixth overall pick and three selections in the second round. But will they keep all of them?
Well, that could depend on if the NHL announces expansion.
“Obviously with our situation in goal we would love an expansion draft to come because then there’s going to be more goalies on the market,” Flames assistant GM Craig Conroy said on The Fan 960 Wednesday. “And that gives us an opportunity. But right now it’s a tough market because there are only so many teams willing to part with goalies and the price is so high, that makes it difficult for us. You’re going to have to overpay right now.”
The Flames’ biggest weakness heading into the off-season is in net, where there is plenty of uncertainty around how the team will move into the future. Jonas Hiller and Niklas Backstrom are both UFAs and are unlikely to return. Backstrom played four games at the end of the season after returning from injury, and Hiller posted an .879 save percentage in 26 games.
Joni Ortio, 25, was probably Calgary’s best option all year, but even he struggled with a .902 save percentage in 22 games. Ortio is also without a contract as he heads into the summer an RFA.
The best goalie available on the UFA market this summer may be James Reimer, who has an injury history and hasn’t held down a No. 1 job for a few years. He’s currently playing backup to Martin Jones in San Jose’s playoff run. Jon Gillies is Calgary’s presumed goalie of the future, but he’s just 22 years old and has only played seven professional games at the AHL level after getting injured early this season.
Should the NHL decide to expand to Las Vegas (and/or Quebec City) an announcement will likely come before the draft, which will help shape the trade market. Teams have an option of how many forwards and defencemen they will be able to protect in an expansion draft, but they’ll only be able to keep one goalie. First- and second-year pros are exempt from the draft.
LISTEN: Flames assistant GM Craig Conroy talks goalie trade market, NHL Draft
“If expansion does come, I think that gives us more opportunity and the teams with the goalies less leverage,” Conroy said. “Not to say it’s going to be cheap, but it’s going to give us a better chance. This could be one of the more exciting drafts if expansion is announced, I think you could see a ton of movement and that’s what’s nice to have all those picks because those picks would probably be in play.”
The goalies most often mentioned as potential trade candidates around the league include Frederik Andersen, Jimmy Howard, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brian Elliott and Matt Murray. There has also been suggestions that the more experienced goalies in some of those destinations could be available instead, such as Marc-Andre Fleury and Ben Bishop.
Tampa Bay and St. Louis may especially be under the gun to make a goalie move this summer as both their No. 1 and No. 2 guys will be up for new contracts after next season.
“Especially for (Tampa) they gotta make a decision because they have guys under contract,” Conroy said of the Lightning’s cap situation. “They don’t have pressure to do it right away, but if they get a good offer and get a good deal and they think they can help their team next year maybe they do it. Maybe they say ‘OK you know what, we will move one of these guys.’
“But we always say this team’s up against the cap they gotta make some moves, and you would say that about Chicago this year, and they go out and get Andrew Ladd. They always seem to find a way out of it. As much as I want to say there’s so much pressure, until we actually get there and see what we have to give to get one of those kind of guys, I don’t know what it’s going to be like. But I don’t see them saying ‘we have to get rid of a goalie.’ They could say ‘hey we’re good were going to sit pat and we’ll do this a year from now.'”
