Goaltending can be the most important position to shore up for playoff hopefuls, and certainly for any team with designs on winning the Stanley Cup.
It can also be the hardest position to figure out.
This year’s finalists are two great examples of that. The Florida Panthers spent big on Sergei Bobrovsky a few years ago, signing the free agent to a long-term contract with a hefty $10 million AAV as it became popular to find value at the position and save money to invest elsewhere in the roster. Then, as they scratched and clawed to an eighth place finish last season, the Panthers needed a backup goalie to lead their way in.
The Edmonton Oilers, meantime, signed Jack Campbell off the free agent market to a $5 million AAV contract two years ago in an attempt to solidify their situation in net. But drafted and developed prospect Stuart Skinner has led them to this year’s final, and even when Skinner struggled for a few games and had to be replaced, in came Calvin Pickard for a few games.
Goaltending can often be the hardest position to address, and it’s full of mystery. If you draft and develop someone like Igor Shesterkin or Jake Oettinger, you generally hold on to them for dear life and have no qualms signing them for term and big dollars. Shesterkin will be the next interesting case in that regard, eligible to sign an extension on July 1 that could make him the highest-paid goalie in the league, a reasonable expectation given the salary cap is set to jump.
But it’s not often that big-time, No. 1 goalies get traded in this era, and yet every off-season rumours persist. This summer will be no different and, perhaps, will finally be the one where we get a meaningful move. In 2024, there is an interesting mix of buyers and sellers seemingly motivated to find a trade, though given the lack of swaps involving surefire No. 1s in recent years, figuring out the proper price point has proven to be a challenge. This is the least-defined trade market in the NHL.
In fact, the last time a presumed No. 1 goalie was traded as a primary piece was when the Arizona Coyotes moved Darcy Kuemper to Colorado for Conor Timmins and a first-round pick. That was three years ago, though it did lead to a Stanley Cup for the Avalanche the following season.
So, what will be in store for the goalie market this summer? Here we look at some of the names potentially available, from the No. 1 trade options, to secondary names, and who looks to be available in a thin market of free agents.
BIG NAMES WHO COULD BE AVAILABLE
Juuse Saros, Nashville
Though Saros is just coming off his worst season as an NHL starter, his reputation as an elite No. 1 remains, and, at 29 years old, he’s not at the age when a dramatic drop-off would be expected. One year ago, he finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting.
A subject of trade rumours before this year’s deadline, those could be revisited again this summer. Saros has one year remaining on a bargain of a contract that comes with a $5 million AAV, which GM Barry Trotz said he was “going to work hard” to extend this summer. However, waiting in the pipeline is Yaroslav Askarov, the 11th-overall pick of the 2020 draft who has posted back-to-back .911 save percentage seasons in the AHL. As long as he’s knocking on the door, and if the Predators get a tantalizing offer on Saros, it could be time to pivot.
Jacob Markstrom, Calgary
As the Flames were offloading pieces from their roster this season and stepping back into a rebuild, the fact they didn’t move Jacob Markstrom kept hope alive that they might be able to grind out a playoff position. That didn’t happen, of course, and now Markstrom’s status will be revisited again.
Markstrom still has two years left on his contract ($6 million AAV), so there is no time crunch for GM Craig Conroy to get a deal done. However, Dustin Wolf is knocking on the door, Dan Vladar is under contract for another season and Markstrom is still chasing a Stanley Cup that seems highly unlikely to occur in Calgary the next two years. When Calgary’s season ended, Eric Francis wrote that Markstrom even fuelled trade speculation when he simply said “I don’t know” when asked where he saw himself playing next season.
Linus Ullmark, Boston
After splitting duties with Jeremy Swayman the past three seasons and combining to win the William Jennings Trophy a year ago, Ullmark took a backseat to his battery mate in the 2024 playoffs, which could be a pivot point for Boston at the position. Swayman is an RFA this summer and the most important contract for the Bruins to figure out. How high his number goes could affect what happens with Ullmark.
Another trade candidate during the season, it’s believed Ullmark flexed his modified (15 team) no-trade clause to stay in Boston. Ullmark is a year away from being eligible for UFA status and technically could sign an extension himself as soon as July 1. He’ll turn 31 in July. While Swayman stole the show in the post-season and also finished fourth among all goalies in the regular season in Goals Saved Above Expected, Ullmark ranked seventh in the league.
SECONDARY NAMES
Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota
Two years ago, the Senators traded Gustavsson to Minnesota in an attempt to upgrade its situation in net, acquiring Cam Talbot in return. Turned out, though, that Gustavsson was the far better goalie that season in 39 games played. Was it a true breakout season? Well, not so much, as the 25-year-old Gustavsson crashed back to a sub-.900 save percentage in 2023-24. With Marc-Andre Fleury re-signed for one more season and Jesper Wallstedt climbing the ranks, might the cap-strapped Wild look to move out Gustavsson, who has two years remaining with a $3.75-million cap hit? It’s neither a big investment in years nor in dollars to see if he lands somewhere between what we saw from Gustavsson over the past two years.
Joonas Korpisalo, Ottawa
Under Pierre Dorion, the Senators signed Korpisalo to a five-year contract last summer, but the position will be under review with Steve Staios the GM in 2024. As Wayne Scanlan wrote in early May, “I get the sense the new management group wants to firm up this area, so expect some change here. Possibly a trade. But at least some more veteran insurance while prospect Mads Søgaard continues to develop in AHL Belleville.”
Korpisalo has a 10-team no-trade list in his contract, and would not be the easiest to move with four years at a $4 million AAV left on his contract coming off a season in which he posted an .890 save percentage and struggled to find consistency.
Elvis Merzlikins, Columbus
New management in Columbus means change could follow on the roster, and indeed in an interview on The Jeff Marek Show on Thursday, new GM Don Waddell said there could be “a half dozen or so” new faces on this roster next season. He was mostly referring to the forward and defence group, but after back-to-back seasons of sub-.900 save percentages, there are questions about Merzlikins, who requested a trade during the 2023-24 season when he wasn’t getting starts. Daniil Tarasov, 25, outperformed Merzlikins by every measure in his 24 games, and 23-year-old Jet Greaves had an excellent AHL season and got into nine NHL games himself.
“Know him a little bit, but since I’ve been here for 24 hours, I’ve heard more about him. That’s something we have to fix. We all know good teams in this league, if you don’t have solid goaltending, it’s hard to win,” Waddell told Marek. “I do think what you said is, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel for that position.”
Given his recent play, there may not be such a wide market for Merzlikins, who has three years left on a contract with a $5.4-million cap hit, but this is obviously an area of the roster the Blue Jackets are looking at.
Darcy Kuemper, Washington
A great out-of-nowhere season from Charlie Lindgren helped put Kuemper’s name on trade rumour lists before the deadline, when it wasn’t clear if the Capitals would even be a playoff team. When they did get there, Lindgren started every post-season game. Lindgren is still under contract for another season at $1.1 million, and with the Capitals in an undesirable mushy-middle place in the league, they could still look to move off Kuemper’s $5.25-million contract that runs through another three seasons.
“Obviously, they’ve got Lindgren in goal,” Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts Podcast in April. “Is Kuemper back? Do they try to find a new home for him? I think that’s possible. It’s not easy, but I think they’re going to try.”
This past season was certainly the worst of Kuemper’s career and, at 34 years old, he may not bounce back again. But, the five years before 2023-24, Kuemper’s .918 save percentage ranked sixth among all goalies who played at least 100 games.
FREE AGENTS
Kaapo Kahkonen
Once considered the future goalie in Minnesota, then traded to San Jose, where he spent a few years, and finally sent to New Jersey at this deadline to plug a hole in net, the now 27-year-old Kahkonen has not realized the potential he once had, but there’s bound to be someone willing to take a shot on him again as a backup. Though he struggled behind a porous Sharks team, in six games with the Devils, Kahkonen strung together some good starts and actually finished the season in the positive in Goals Saved Above Expected (1.4 per MoneyPuck).
Casey DeSmith
Turning 33 in August, DeSmith is an NHL backup at this point. Being thrust into two playoff games — and showing well — this spring after Thatcher Demko’s injury should help his case in seeking another job for the fall.
Anthony Stolarz
The 30-year-old Stolarz has spent most of his pro career in the AHL, but for the past three years he’s been a full-time NHL backup: with Anaheim in 2021-22 and 2022-23, and with the Cup-finalist Panthers this season. With Florida, his numbers have been eyebrow-raising, posting a .925 save percentage in 27 games and actually ranking third in the league, saving 20.1 goals above expected. Per Natural Stat Trick, Stolarz had the league’s best high-danger save percentage at 5-on-5 this season, too. Might there be a late-blooming diamond in the rough here?
An up-and-down couple of seasons left Samsonov on the outs with the Maple Leafs as they look to go in another direction. Still just 27, the opportunity for Samsonov to be a No. 1 has probably sailed, at least for now, but away from the spotlight of a huge market and the demands of everyday play, he could find a better fit for himself as a backup or tandem netminder elsewhere.
Laurent Brossoit
Maybe one of the better backups in the league, it has to be remembered the 31-year-old Brossoit started eight games early on in Vegas’ Stanley Cup run in 2023, winning six. He returned to Winnipeg as a free agent last summer, signing a one-year deal worth $1.75 million and, in 23 games, he posted a .927 save percentage and was top 10 in the league in Goals Saved Above Expected. Still a backup at this stage, there’s a possibility Brossoit could be a target for a team that could see him as more of a 1B capable of starting more games.
Cam Talbot
With the Kings this season, Talbot put together some strong numbers, though he slowed down a bit toward the end and then was blown out of the water by the Edmonton Oilers in three playoff starts. Talbot, who turns 37 in July, has been tried as a starter with a few teams before and perhaps could still thrive behind a strong team defence. More likely, however, is that he’s a tandem option at best and a backup at worst.
WHO ARE THE BUYERS?
New Jersey Devils
It’s no secret that the Devils’ primary need is for a goaltender after the team finished 30th in the league this season with an .886 save percentage. The team tried five goalies in 2023-24, from carryover Vitek Vanecek to mid-season pickups Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen. Allen is the only one who remains under contract for next season.
The Devils were heavily linked to Markstrom in trade rumours before this season’s trade deadline and may revisit him again with the Calgary Flames. Speaking at the scouting combine this week in Buffalo, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald said he was open to trading the 10th-overall pick.
“If we feel it helps us now and in the foreseeable future, then, yes, I’m listening,” Fitzgerald told NHL.com. “I haven’t gotten anything yet but the more I talk to teams, I say, ‘Listen, I’m open to moving No. 10, but it’s going to have to be something (significant).'”
As outlined earlier, true No. 1 netminders have rarely been traded in recent years, but in regards to the No. 10-overall pick, there is one interesting comparable from 11 years ago. In 2013, the Devils acquired 27-year-old Cory Schneider from Vancouver for the ninth-overall pick that was used to take Bo Horvat. Schneider went on to become the team’s starter for five years until injuries destabilized his career.
“There’s a lot to it, but, yes, the focus is on finding that goaltender,” Fitzgerald said.
The last two starts of Joseph Woll’s season were excellent playoff wins over Boston that pulled the Leafs back into a Game 7. He’s had stretches in the regular season where he’s looked like an emerging No. 1 for the Leafs and he’s the only returning netminder under contract for 2024-25 — a bargain $766,667, if he truly breaks out into a greater role.
However, Woll’s season ended on the sidelines with an injury sustained in that Game 6 win and his health is something of a concern for the team because he’s been sidelines for various reasons the past two years. Whether or not the Maple Leafs go big-game hunting on the goalie market, they will at least be looking for a backup to Woll, who has enough experience that they won’t miss a beat if he goes down again. Perhaps it’s less of a backup and more of a split-duty tandem netminder they chase.
The Senators will be hungry to take positive strides next season, lest they risk upsetting a core that could start getting fussy with another big playoff miss. Ottawa finished 31st in team save percentage this past season and though it has both goalies Joonas Korpisalo (four years at $4 million remaining) and Anton Forsberg (one year at $2.75 million) under contract and Staios was “diplomatic” about the position when asked at the end of the season, it’s believed this will be an area they try to address. Both of those netminders were Dorion acquisitions, so the new management team may prefer to take its own direction.
Los Angeles Kings
After Talbot struggled against the Oilers in the playoffs, the Kings had to turn to David Rittich for starts, which in turn exposed how thin they are in the crease. Rittich is the only goalie under contract for next season and with GM Rob Blake taking heat in the market for not yet pushing this team forward with post-season success, it’s unfathomable that they’d enter next season without a more concrete solution in net.
Carolina Hurricanes
Before Waddell left the Hurricanes, he left open the possibility for change in Carolina’s crease. Given how closely Carolina’s entire senior front office staff works together, it’s conceivable that idea could remain even after Waddell’s departure. But, with Frederik Andersen, Pyotr Kochetkov and Spencer Martin all still under contract for next season, any change in net would suggest a trade. How possible is that? This is a huge off-season for the Canes, with important contracts to resolve all over the lineup. There is so much business to do, it’s hard to figure out where the goalies fit in.
Detroit Red Wings
Two years ago, the Red Wings took an inexpensive chance on Ville Husso becoming an NHL No. 1 after a strong final season with the Blues. But goalies can be fickle and, after two seasons with sub-.900 save percentages, it’s clear at this point that 29-year-old Husso is not that. Last summer, GM Steve Yzerman took another chance on a good-looking backup, signing Alex Lyon off the UFA market after he led a late-season push to get the Florida Panthers into the playoffs. But now Detroit finds itself in a similar situation as divisional rivals Ottawa and Buffalo in that they need to get into the playoffs next season, so targeting something more guaranteed in net would top the off-season things-to-do list.