What to do with Andersen
- Thread starter Phileas Fogg
- Start date
Hobbes
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I'd really hesitate to invest heavily in a goaltender swap. I read a tweat a couple days ago staying that this year the top 8 highest paid goaltenders are all either out of the playoffs or back-ups. And that doefn't seem like much of an anomaly. Think of all the high-salary big names who have quickly become anchors to their team's salary cap situation.
I'd be okay moving on from Freddie if there was a semi-useful return for him, even if it meant an on-paper downgrade in the position. He's almost certainly gone at the end of the year anyway. The large number of goaltenders likely to hit the market in the offseason is both a blessing and a curse...will probably be easier to squeeze a decent goaltender for a lower salary and shorter term but will be harder to find a new home for Andersen.
EDIT: P.S. WTF is Montreal doing trading for Jake Allen at $4M+? That's crazy money they have tied up in their goaltending.
I'd be okay moving on from Freddie if there was a semi-useful return for him, even if it meant an on-paper downgrade in the position. He's almost certainly gone at the end of the year anyway. The large number of goaltenders likely to hit the market in the offseason is both a blessing and a curse...will probably be easier to squeeze a decent goaltender for a lower salary and shorter term but will be harder to find a new home for Andersen.
EDIT: P.S. WTF is Montreal doing trading for Jake Allen at $4M+? That's crazy money they have tied up in their goaltending.
Guilt Trip
Active member
It gives Montreal a solid back up so Price doesn't have to play 65 games. They also have a ton of picks and cap space. In essence it's costing them money. Someone else mentioned that the schedule will be condensed next year so the role of a back up will be even more important. I think it's a great move by them.Hobbes said:
https://twitter.com/account4hockey/status/1301254712419811334
bustaheims
Active member
At this point, the Leafs need to be willing to move on from anyone on the roster not signed for the long-term. Doesn?t mean they need to pull the trigger, but they need to explore all options for aging players and non-core pieces. So, that?s not really news...
L K
Active member
Honestly there isn't a single player on the roster you could 100% ignore.
I mean if Edmonton was like, so McDavid for Matthews? You can't ignore it.
Nylander has to be looked at as a trade option if the right defenseman comes back. Same thing with Marner.
The only guy that I think they have a really hard time trading even if they wanted to is honestly Tavares.
I mean if Edmonton was like, so McDavid for Matthews? You can't ignore it.
Nylander has to be looked at as a trade option if the right defenseman comes back. Same thing with Marner.
The only guy that I think they have a really hard time trading even if they wanted to is honestly Tavares.
Frank E
Active member
I'm kind of torn on this one. On one hand, I'm a proponent of trading out expiring contracts, more so at the deadline, but whatever.
But on the other hand, are they going to be able to replace Andersen given the already tight cap situation and defense that needs some expensive additions?
I'm just wondering if this is a zero sum thing...
But on the other hand, are they going to be able to replace Andersen given the already tight cap situation and defense that needs some expensive additions?
I'm just wondering if this is a zero sum thing...
Guilt Trip
Active member
Agree.Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
OldTimeHockey
Active member
bustaheims said:
While he's not signed long term, I'd consider Andersen a "core" piece.
I mean, I get the appeal of moving a talented goalie and trying to find an equal to replacement for him and upgrading defence with Andersen's 5 million, but I don't see how that's even remotely possible. Perhaps someone can do up a spreadsheet for me or a flow chart.
Please remember, that a lot of people have attributed a lot of the Leafs struggles this season to Andersen's struggles. Now imagine that all year with a less than goaltender.
OldTimeHockey said:
Couldn't an argument be made that considering Andersen's struggles this season finding a replacement to improve our 19/20 goaltending shouldn't be too difficult since it's a fairly low bar? I mean he was 26th in save percentage all season. From December 1st and on he was 38th in save percentage with .901 in 31 games. Marcus Hogberg had a better save percentage than that in 23 games since that date and I'd wager 99% of hockey fans have absolutely no idea what team he played for.
Think about that for a second. For the last 60% of the regular season almost every single team had a goalie performing better than the Leafs. A bunch of them had two. The ONLY team that didn't was Vegas, and they went out and got Lehner to solve that problem.
Guilt Trip
Active member
Very true. It works both ways. Freddie had a poor year by his standards. I like him and all that but if you can improve the position and can afford it, you do it.CarltonTheBear said:
bustaheims
Active member
OldTimeHockey said:
I'd define a core piece as someone who is going to be around for the long-term, and, regardless of his contract status, I don't believe that to be true of Andersen. Goalies who are 30+ just can't really be relied upon that way. When goalies start to approach the end of their careers, they tend to go off the rails fairly quickly and fairly sharply. A fraction of a section less in reaction time can be all the difference, and we all start to see slight reductions in our ability to react quickly once we get into our 30s. It's generally a minute, imperceptible difference - and, for the overwhelming majority of us, it's a non-issue, but for NHL goalies, it's often the beginning of the end. I don't think it's a coincidence that the only goalies who came into the year 30+ years old to start 40 or more games this season who didn't have had a poor season compared to the bulk of their careers were Bishop, Rask, and Bernier.
Guilt Trip
Active member
I get what you're saying but it's not so cut and dry. Some guys will drop off a lot and quickly, just like players that lose a step. Some won't until later on in their 30's. I don't see Anderson at the end of his career but I do agree, I don't see him as a core guy either. Anyway for your 30 year old goalies you can add in Crawford, who maintained his career SV%. Varlarmov, Markstrom (turned 30 during the year) are others to add to the list for 40 games plus. You however can't dismiss guys that didn't play 40 games because they were part of a platoon system. Halak(31 gms), Thomas Greiss(31 gms), Alex Stalock (38 gms), Koskinen (38 gms), Anton Khudobin (30 gms and lead the league in SV%), Antti Raanta (33 gms), all had normal or above years. Quick actually had a better year then he did the previous year on a worse team. It's going to be interesting to see what they do moving forward. Can they get Matt Murray, who I'm not really a fan of, for cheap? Can he turn it around? Like I said before I think the only guy on the UFA sheet that could be an upgrade on Freddie is Lehner, and it wouldn't be like a night and day difference but the price will probably be.bustaheims said:
Arn
Active member
CarltonTheBear said:
So the thinking seems to be that the Leafs feel Campbell can play more than recent Leafs backups have. Two seasons back he played 31 games at 2.30/0.920, last season 26 games at 2.80/0.904, career overall 2.58/0.916 in 64 games (all small sample sizes, of course). Maybe you can push him up to 35 games.
Picking a random example, Khudobin 30 games last year at Dallas 2.22/0.930 cap hit of $2.5m. Maybe you can get him for $3m?
So is 45 game Khudobin (most he's played in a season was 2 years ago in Dallas at 41) + 35 game Jack Campbell plus ~5m cap space (Kapanen plus Andersen) to spend on a top pairing compliment to add to Rielly a better overall use of the money than having Andersen stay and stick with the same D?
$5m D - Rielly
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Sandin/Liljegren
rather than push Dermott up and bring in a ?1-2m D or play Marincin (Also I forgot Ceci's 4.5m is coming off the books)
I think it's a gamble but maybe one worth strongly considering.
(It doesn't have to be Khudobin, of course, cos he's also 34. Maybe you can do it by trade).
Guilt Trip
Active member
There are all kinds of possibilities out there. I think if you could get Khudobin for 3 it would be worth considering. Don't know if 3 is the number tho.