7 free agent goaltenders Senators could target this off-season

We should have some sympathy for the Ottawa Senators trying to sort out their best goaltending options. 

With a Stanley Cup on the line, many of this year’s playoff teams are still trying to sort out their goalie starters. 

Hockey’s most important position continues to bamboozle coaches and general managers with unpredictability and unforeseen circumstances. Hands up if you predicted that:

• Jack Campbell would return from oblivion to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a comeback Game 4 win over the LA Kings by making 27 saves in relief of Stuart Skinner. Naturally, Skinner returned to start and win Game 5. 

• Akira Schmid would make his NHL playoff debut and stop 35 of 36 Rangers shots to spark the New Jersey Devils to a critical Game 3 win. And he backed it up by winning Game 4 as well. Two years ago, Schmid was a junior goalie in the USHL. Now he’s a 2-0 NHL playoff goalie with a .966 save percentage. 

• The Vegas Knights would trade for former Kings star goalie Jonathan Quick but lean on career journeyman Laurent Brossoit to start vs Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets. Brossoit, once an understudy to Hellebuyck in Winnipeg, has the Knights ahead in the series 3-1. 

• Seven teams – Edmonton, New Jersey, Florida, Minnesota, Toronto, Los Angeles and Boston – would use two goalies in the first week of the playoffs. (To be fair, the Bruins only used Jeremy Swayman to finish a game because starter Linus Ullmark got a misconduct penalty for trying to fight Matthew Tkachuk). 

• Decorated Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevski would rank 18th in save percentage (.856) among playoff goalies after four games against the Maple Leafs and be outplayed by Washington Capitals castoff Ilya Samsonov. 

Does anyone know anything any more about finding the guy to give you saves at the right time? It’s become clear that the best approach to manning the goaltending position is to have as many options as possible and then pray to the ghost of Georges Vezina that one of those options might work out. 

This brings us around to Ottawa’s goaltending situation, which has been a cause for concern almost since the day Craig Anderson left in 2020. (And even Anderson had his ups and downs). It’s not that the Senators haven’t tried – they threw big money at Matt Murray (four years, $25 million) after acquiring him from Pittsburgh. And when that didn’t work out the Sens traded for Cam Talbot ($3.66M AAV on the final year of his contract). 

It speaks volumes to the quirky nature of goaltending fixes that the Senators most reliable goaltender of the past couple of seasons has been Anton Forsberg, a guy they picked up on waivers at age 28 two years ago. 

When Murray faltered and got hurt repeatedly, Forsberg was a rock in 2021-22, winning 22 games with a .917 save percentage and 2.82 goals against average. 

But no sooner do the Senators extend Forsberg on a three-year, $8.25M deal does Forsberg have injury and consistency issues. In 2022-23, the Talbot-Forsberg tandem was a bit of a disaster as both goalies spent extended periods on the injured list while the Senators used seven different starters.

So now what?

General manager Pierre Dorion has already confirmed that Talbot won’t be back. 

“Anton Forsberg will be one of the goalies next year,” Dorion said. “The other guy will either be (from) internally, through trade or free agency.”

Rookie Mads Sogaard, who appeared in 19 games this season, would be the internal candidate. It seems evident, though, that Dorion wants to find an experienced goalie so that Sogaard gets more time to develop and gain physical strength. 

“He’ll be our goalie of the future whenever that might be,” Dorion said, of Sogaard. “It might be next year. It might be two years from now. But I know he’s got the tools and the mindset to be a good No. 1 in this league.”

Add Sogaard’s inexperience with the fact Forsberg is coming off MCL tears in both knees, and it makes sense for the Sens to find some insurance at the position, by adding a veteran goalie to the mix. 

Who and at what cost? 

Here’s a look at some of the pending unrestricted goaltenders available. 

Jonathan Quick, Vegas: Pass. Quick was once a superstar with the LA Kings, leading them to Stanley Cup wins in 2012 and 2014. But at 37, he is coming off a couple of sub-par seasons and is not worth the risk. 

Semyon Varlamov, New York Islanders: Varlamov could be a great fit in Ottawa. But there will be a lot of interest in this 34-year-old who had a .913 save percentage this season and 2.70 goals against. Varlamov had 11 wins as a backup to Ilya Sorokin and had a cap hit of $5M. He won’t be a cheap addition. 

Frederik Andersen, Carolina: Andersen, 33, is also coming off a contract with an AAV of $5M. The Hurricanes have other options and Andersen was just OK this season. While he won 21 times for the detail-oriented ‘Canes, his underlying numbers of .903 and 2.48 are unimpressive considering how well Carolina plays defensively. That’s why Antti Raanta, despite fewer starts in the regular season, is Carolina’s playoff go-to guy. Raanta is also a pending UFA and will be a goalie of interest if the Hurricanes don’t re-sign him. 

Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh:  Jarry, 27, was supposed to be the guy in Pittsburgh for years to come. He may be yet. But with the house cleaning in the Penguins organization since their wild card miss, who knows what will happen with Jarry. Injuries kept him from getting on a big run, but Jarry still won 24 games and had a .909 save percentage, which was far superior to the numbers put up by Talbot, Forsberg and Sogaard in Ottawa this season. Expect lots of interest in Jarry if he goes to market. Jarry earned $4.5M last season with a cap hit of $3.5M.

Adin Hill, Vegas: Hill is not a big name, having kicked around with Arizona, San Jose and Vegas. Quietly, though, Hill, 27, had a good season with the Golden Knights – a 16-7-1 record, 2.49 goals-against and .914 save percentage. Hill earned $2.675M this past season with an AAV of $2.175. Could be a good, under-the-radar pick up. 

Joonas Korpisalo, Los Angeles: What a pickup by the Kings at the trade deadline. Korpisalo, 28, was the longtime Columbus keeper and made just $1.3M this season. Korpisalo was supposed to back up Kings starter Pheonix Copley, who appeared in 37 games this season for LA. Typical of goalie curve balls, Korpisalo is starting versus the Edmonton Oilers in their playoff series and could be signed long-term by the Kings. Otherwise, he is a pending UFA. Of course, no sooner do I write this than Korpisalo gets hooked in Game 5 after yielding four Oiler goals on 19 shots. Roll on, goalie roller-coaster. 

Along with these UFA offerings, look for teams like Ottawa to scour rosters in search of a goalie available via trade. Dorion’s last two veteran goalie acquisitions came via trade. Will he try for a ‘third-time-is-the-charm’ scenario?