FREE AGENT FRENZY

Evan Davis

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs over and done with, I thought now would be the perfect time to analyze some goalies that will be hitting the open market this summer, and find a possible new home for them. This year's free agent class has tons of talent in goal and can definitely help teams get over the hump.

DARCY KUEMPER (COL)

With Philip Grubauer leaving the Colorado Avalanche in free agency last year and signing a 6 year deal with the Kraken, the Avs traded a first round pick and prospect Connor Timmins for Yotes netminder, Darcy Kuemper. As expected, Kuemper had a phenomenal year with the club. In the 57 games he started, Kuemper was 37-12-4 with a .921 SV% and 2.54 GAA.

I do believe the best fit and most realistic option is to re-sign with the Colorado Avalanche on a more team friendly deal that will allow him to stay with the club. Teams might be hesitant to sign Kuemper for such a high AAV after seeing what happened to Philip Grubauer in Seattle after having a Vezina nominee season with the Avalanche.

Kuemper is currently 32 years old and with a ton of UFAs heading off the books in Colorado, I could see the Avalanche floating the exact same deal Arizona gave him two years ago, a two year deal with an AAV of $4,500,000.

JACK CAMPBELL (TOR)

After an impressive first half of the season that saw Jack Campbell become an All Star for the first time in his career, Campbell was without a doubt one of the worst goalies in the second half of the season. When the calendar hit 2022, Campbell was still stuck in 2021.

It became very clear that Campbell doesn’t have what it takes to become a #1 goalie in the NHL. With all that being said, it’ll be hard to judge what type of salary and commitment Jack Campbell receives from a club. He needs to be in a situation where the second goalie is just as good as him, if not better, in order for that club to succeed.

I think I found the perfect place for him, the Dallas Stars. Dallas will have a ton of cap space after losing the contracts of Radulov and Ben Bishop, and I believe a tandem of Jack Campbell and Jake Oettinger can be something special. Oettinger just came off an incredible playoff performance, and Jack Campbell can provide Dallas some solid starting time, while still focusing Oettinger as the #1. My prediction for Campbell’s contract is a 3 year deal with an AAV of $4 million.

MARC ANDRE-FLEURY (MIN)

After starting the season off with the Chicago Blackhawks, Marc Andre-Fleury was dealt at the trade deadline just down the road to the Minnesota Wild. Fleury will be turning 38 when the season starts and will most likely only get a 1 year deal if a team does indeed sign him.

Given the fact that he is getting up their in age, I could only see Marc Andre-Fleury signing with a team that already has a #1 netminder in place. And for that reason I would love to see Fleury head to Nashville and join Jusse Saros. Nashville currently has a little over 21 million in cap space and would love another goalie to offload Saros, who is coming off a Vezina worthy season.

The Nashville Predators will definitely look a lot different when next season begins, but they definitely need a better backup to make sure Saros isn’t injured heading into the playoffs like he was this past season. Nashville isn’t too far from Minnesota, so this could definitely be a possibility for Fleury. My contract prediction for Fleury is a 1 year deal with an AAV of $3.5 million.