Goalies who could be available at the trade deadline
Josh Beneteau of Sportsnet: The Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Washington Capitals are three teams that could be looking to add some goalie depth by Monday’s NHL trade deadline.
A look at 12 goaltenders who could be available for trade.
Jonathan Bernier – Pending UFA – Has been out since March 18th but expected back this week.
Elvis Merzlikins (one year at $4 million)/Joonas Korpisalo (one year at $2.8 million) – Merzlikins doesn’t need expansion protection.
James Reimer (pending UFA)/Petr Mrazek (pending UFA)/Alex Nedeljkovic (pending RFA or UFA depending on games played) – Could move one for an NHL-ready player.
David Rittich – Pending UFA – Should be able to get some asset(s) for him.
Chris Driedger – Pending UFA – They could keep him for the season but teams will be calling for his $850,000 cap hit.
Linus Ullmark – Pending UFA – Maybe one of the Sabres more valuable trade pieces.
Darcy Kuemper (one year at $4.5 million)/Antti Raanta (pending UFA) – Both players are currently hurt and haven’t played since early March.
Devan Dubnyk – Pending UFA – Sharks would need to retain some of the $4.333 cap hit.
Flames GM on the upcoming deadline
Pierre LeBrun of the Athletic: The Calgary Flames season hasn’t gone as planned after they landed Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev this past offseason. Replacing Geoff Ward with Darryl Sutter hasn’t turned things around as quickly as they have hoped.
Changes are coming but more likely an offseason than at the trade deadline. That hasn’t stopped GM Brad Treliving from listening to all calls.
“Hey, you look at deals all the time, as far as the deadline it’s the last time you can do anything until the season is done. I think every team looks at ways they can improve themselves regardless of the situation they’re in,” said the Flames GM. “The separating factor is that you’ve got teams that are in good spots that are looking to help themselves now. And then when you look at hockey deals, the reason you don’t see a lot of those now is that if you take a good portion of the teams that are in a good spot right now, they’re not looking to take anything off their team right now.”
Treliving adds the expansion draft throws another wrinkle as teams need to think of their potential protected lists, and the flat salary cap isn’t helping.
They could look to move pending UFAs David Rittich and Derek Ryan.
