Red Wings Expected To Be Active In Goalie Market This Offseason

After a busy offseason ahead of the 2022-23 NHL season, there was a marketable increase in the Detroit Red Wings’ playoff hopes compared to years past. Unfortunately, even after the free agent acquisitions of Andrew Copp, David Perron, and Dominik Kubalik, and the trade to acquire goaltender Ville Husso, the Red Wings were only able to improve by three wins this year. Speaking with Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now (Tweet Link), Detroit’s GM Steve Yzerman pinpoints the team’s need to improve their goaltending situation.

This season, all of Detroit’s three goalies, Husso as well as Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg, all held a Quality Start Percentage less than 50% and produced a Goals Saved Above Average of -13.5, -4.4, and -8.2, respectively. In more topical statistics, none of their goaltenders produced a GAA of 3.00 or less, and none were able to sport a SV% of .900 or more.

Much like Allen notes in his piece about the Red Wings’ goaltending situation, there are very sound arguments to be made that goaltending statistics can typically be a different expression of team statistics. However, there were a handful of goaltenders this season, on teams that held worse positions in the standings than Detroit, that actually produced much better numbers than the Red Wings’ goalies.

Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Alex Stalock of the Chicago Blackhawks, both produced fairly good numbers on poor-performing teams this season. In Philadelphia, Hart was able to produce a GSAA of 4.4, as well as a GAA of 2.94, with a SV% of .907. For the Blackhawks, Stalock held a GSAA of 3.0, also putting together a SV% of .908.

In the long-term goaltending vision of the Red Wings, all eyes should be on the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Sebastian Cossa. Unable to crack the roster of Detroit’s AHL affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins at the beginning of the season, Cossa played very well for the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. In 46 starts for the Walleye this season, Cossa went 26-16-1, carrying a GAA of 2.56 and a SV% of .913.

In the short term, although there is a lack of elite goaltenders in the upcoming free agency season, there are still a handful of veteran goaltenders that would notably improve the Red Wings’ performance between the pipes. Antti Raanta of the Carolina Hurricanes, Joonas Korpisalo of the Los Angeles Kings, Semyon Varlamov of the New York Islanders, and Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights all come to mind as a fit for…