Internal and free agent goalie options for the Capitals
Rory Boylen of Sportsnet: The Washington Capitals now find themselves without a backup for Ilya Samsonov after Henrik Lundqvist announced yesterday that he won’t play this season due to a heart condition.
The free agent pool for goalies is a little thinner than it once was, but there are still some options for the Capitals.
In-house they have 28-year old Pheonix Copley and 24-year old Vitek Vanecek. Vanecek has put up better AHL numbers but has zero NHL games experience compared to Copley’s 29. Vanecek should have a leg up if they don’t add a veteran.
Free agent options include Craig Anderson, Ryan Miller, Cory Schneider and Jimmy Howard.
Anderson and Miller may not be interested in playing this year. If Miller decides he wants to play, he may not be interested in playing on the East coast. Schneider’s injury history may be too risky of a signing for the Capitals. Howard had a 2-23-2 record, a .882 save percentage, and a 4.20 GAA last season.
Positive vibes in Dubois and Barzal contract talks
TSN: Pierre LeBrun on restricted free agents in Columbus Blue Jackets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal.
“And, on the one hand with Dubois, his agent Pat Brisson, who was on our podcast this week, said that talks suddenly over the last little while here started to pick up with the season looking like it was going to return. I spoke with Blue Jackets’ general manager Jarmo Kekalainen on this day and he said it’s a priority to get Dubois signed before training camp started and he was confident he would do so. And certainly, it seems like there are a lot of positive vibes in that negotiation.
Meanwhile, Barzal and the Islanders, the agent is veteran J.P. Barry, they’ve had constant communication between the two sides throughout all this, they’ve talked short-term, medium-term, long-term deals. Again, getting a positive vibe out of that negotiation and we’ll see where that goes.”
