Will the Ottawa Senators be eyeing the goalie market again this offseason?
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Ottawa Senators goaltenders have been inconsistent all season. Last offseason they signed Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year, $4 million per deal.
Korpisalo has a 3.30 GAA with a .890 save percentage, while Anton Forsberg has a 3.39 GAA and a .897 save percentage.
It’s believed that Senators GM Steve Staios looked at the goalie market at the trade deadline. Maybe some of the groundwork he laid for the offseason involves adding a goaltender.
There was some deadline speculation that the Senators may have spoken with the Boston Bruins about Linus Ullmark.
Don’t expect the Senators to buy out Korpisalo’s contract. Forsberg has a year left at $2.75 million and maybe they could move him.
The Pittsburgh Penguins interested in the top NCAA free agent
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: Believe that the Arizona Coyotes will be playing out of the Mullett Arena again next season.
Think the Pittsburgh Penguins will be one of the teams interested in the top ranked NCAA free agent, Quinnipiac forward Collin Graf.
The Montreal Canadiens will be looking to accelerate their timeline this offseason
Erik Engels of Sportsnet: The Montreal Canadiens are deep prospect wise on the blue line. They have four first-round and three second-round picks in the next two drafts. They have salary cap space to work with this offseason. GM Kent Hughes will have some options this offseason.
“I’m not going to say anything about expectations for next season because it’s impossible to know before we know what we’re going to accomplish over the summer,” Hughes said. “What I will say is we’re going to make every effort to continue to try and improve this team and to accelerate our timeline to get into that window where we’re competing for the playoffs, competing to win a Stanley Cup. But until we get through that summer and see what we’re able to accomplish, it’s hard for me to answer beyond that. We’ll do anything we can, but we won’t be reckless.”
The Canadiens likely won’t be big players in free agency on July 1st. It doesn’t really make sense for the Canadiens to be handing out long-term term, big money deals to players who are 27 and older.