Of the NHL’s remaining free agents, goaltenders are the most intriguing position.
Three UFA goalies who played at least 20 games last season have yet to sign a new contract: Alexandar Georgiev, Ilya Samsonov and James Reimer.
They’re at different points in their NHL careers, but they have potential of being bargain options in the crease.
Ilya Samsonov
Samsonov may be the most intriguing of the trio. The 28-year-old posted a subpar save percentage of .891 with the Vegas Golden Knights this past season, but he had 0.6 goals saved above expected in 29 appearances, meaning he stopped the scoring chances he was generally supposed to stop.
Samsonov isn’t all that far removed from his stellar 2022-23 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, when he had a .919 SP and 2.33 GAA in 42 games. He earned $1.8 million this past season with Vegas, and he likely wouldn’t get more this time. That said, among goalies who played at least 15 games, 28 goalies had a worse goals saved above expected rating, according to moneypuck.com.
Alexandar Georgiev
One of those goaltenders is Georgiev, who put up a minus-17.9 goals saved above expected, which was the second-worst.
Georgiev split last season between the Colorado Avalanche – where he had an .874 SP and 3.38 GAA in 14 games – and the San Jose Sharks, where he posted a 3.88 GAA and .875 SP in 31 appearances.
The 29-year-old will certainly have to take a pay cut from the $3.5 million he’s earned in each of the past four seasons, but in the right circumstances, Georgiev could provide some value and support for a younger goalie tandem. While he’s had a goals-against average of more than 3.00 and a sub-.900 save percentage in the last two seasons, he did have a 2.53 GAA and .919 SP in 2022-23, so he has the potential to bounce back.
James Reimer
Reimer put up a .901 SP and 2.90 GAA in 22 appearances with the Buffalo Sabres this past season while earning a very reasonable $1 million for his efforts. Of the three goalies here, Reimer's 8.0 goals saved above expected was the best as well.
Reimer is now 37, but if he doesn’t retire, he can prove he has something left in the tank at somewhere close to the league-minimum salary. He proved that this past season, after all.
At a time when every salary cap dollar counts, Reimer can step in and give a team some reassurance that they effectively have goalie insurance.
It's not out of the ordinary for teams to line up three experienced goalies to get them through next year.
The Buffalo Sabres have presumptive starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, youngster Devon Levi and veteran newcomer Alex Lyon.
The Anaheim Ducks have emerging No. 1 Lukas Dostal, veteran Petr Mrazek and bubble goalie Ville Husso.
And the Utah Mammoth have three experienced goalies in Karel Vejmelka, Connor Ingram (who entered the NHL and NHLPA Player Assistance Program in March) and first-year Mammoth Vitek Vanecek. As you can see, you can never have more than enough quality netminding.
The Edmonton Oilers could have benefited from signing one of these goalies right now if they had more than $226,000 in cap space. Stuart Skinner had an .896 SP this past season, while Pickard had a .900 SP. They had some solid outings in the playoffs but an inconsistent performance overall, and if the Oilers aren’t ready to give Olivier Rodrigue a larger role, having another veteran wouldn’t hurt.
Whether Samsonov, Georgiev and Reimer get to play NHL hockey next season, or whether they ply their trade overseas is yet to be determined.
Another option for those three goalies would be earning their keep on a professional tryout this fall – Edmonton could be a fit in that case. Alternatively, they can be patient and wait for an injury or disappointing performance from a goalie to open up a roster opportunity for them. At this stage, beggars can’t be choosers, so if Georgiev, Samsonov and Reimer get a solid employment offer, they should take it.
In any case, it will be compelling viewing to see how the rest of the NHL’s goalie market shakes out. Teams that are satisfied with their netminding today might not be satisfied tomorrow, and teams that are healthy in net today might not be healthy between the pipes tomorrow. Things can change in an instant for NHL goalies, and we’ll be watching closely to see where every netminder of note eventually lands.
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