Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
The Ottawa Senators prioritized goaltending last summer by acquiring star Linus Ullmark. They’ll need to do it again.
With Ullmark sidelined week-to-week due to injury, the Sens will need a reliable backup until Ullmark returns.
Anton Forsberg has had a couple of strong outings, but overall, he hasn’t been reliable enough, posting a 3.04 goals-against average and .885 save percentage. Call-ups Leevi Merilainen and Mads Sogaard haven’t necessarily carried the team, either, both having save percentages of below .900. Merilainen, in particular, is showing promise as the team’s backup for next season, but he’s not lights-out game after game right now in the NHL.
That said, it won’t be very easy to trade for a backup who will move the needle – even pending UFAs.
Ideally, the Sens would pursue the Utah Hockey Club’s Karel Vejmelka as an affordable option – he’s currently earning $2.725 million. But the injury to Utah starter Connor Ingram means they likely will hang onto Vejmelka until they’re much closer to the NHL’s March 7 trade deadline. Even still, Utah is battling for a playoff berth in the Central Division, and Vejmelka has an impressive 2.45 GAA and .914 SP. Those are more reasons why Ottawa would have a tough time getting him.
The New Jersey Devils, meanwhile, have Jake Allen as a pending UFA. He’s 5-7-1 compared to Markstrom’s 20-8-2 record, but if New Jersey is near the top of the Metropolitan Division, they wouldn’t be best served by swapping Allen for Forsberg.
Another franchise that might be willing to move a goalie is the Detroit Red Wings, which have three NHL-caliber netminders right now. Two of them are pending UFA goalies in Alex Lyon (2.78 GAA, .899 save percentage) and Ville Husso (3.47 GAA, .877 SP). Their stats aren’t intimidating in the least. It’s also difficult to see Detroit and Ottawa collaborating when they’re two points apart in the standings and both battling for a playoff spot.
The same goes for other Atlantic teams, including the Buffalo Sabres with journeyman James Reimer and the Tampa Bay Lightning with backup Jonas Johansson, who isn’t an upgrade on Forsberg anyway.
Related: NHL Free Agency: Will These Six Eastern Conference Pending UFAs Go Elsewhere?
A potentially easier route would be to focus on a rebuilding team, such as the San Jose Sharks, who have veterans Vitek Vanecek (3.84 G.A.A., .885 SP) and Alexandar Georgiev (3.55 G.A.A., .873 SP) preventing top prospect…