New Jersey Devils: 5 Backup Goalie Options In Free Agency
The New Jersey Devils are looking at their options in net beyond Mackenzie Blackwood.
A backup goalie may be the most important New Jersey Devils need this offseason. Cory Schneider was showing he was out of the woods again right before the NHL season pause, but we can’t get fooled again. This is now four-straight seasons where he had a save percentage under .910, and the past two seasons he was the worst goalie in the league.
It’s really a sad end to what was once a really great Devils career. However, we’re now in the territory where he has more bad seasons in a Devils uniform than he’s had good seasons. The Devils will likely decide it’s time to make a move on Schneider’s contract with Mackenzie Blackwood firmly taking over the net at just 23 years old.
The Devils have two very good reasons to make this decision now. One, Schneider’s compliance buyout wouldn’t hurt them that much if they made the decision now (it would cost $2 million over the next four seasons on the salary cap). The other reason is this free agency class is stacked with backup goalie options.
The Devils are going to be one of the most aggressive teams when it comes to going after the best goalie options in free agency. They have a ton of salary cap space, even if it goes down, to make the biggest offer to the best players in free agency. Here are five goalies the Devils should absolutely look to split time with Mackenzie Blackwood.
Robin Lehner
Let’s start with the obvious choice first. Robin Lehner should be the player the New Jersey Devils go all in for. If he wants a five-year deal, give him a five-year deal. If he wants $5 million per season, then do it. Does it have a chance of backfiring? As with all free-agent contracts, of course it does. However, he’s been one of the more consistent goalies of the past two seasons and he’s showed on the Chicago Blackhawks that he can excel behind a bad defense.
The problem here for the Devils is there could be a team that’s willing to make Lehner the starter. He’s one of the better, if not the best option on the market this season. Jacob Markström and Braden Holtby are probably the best options on paper, but we still think Lehner is better.
What’s going to hurt Lehner is the fact this is the second-straight offseason he will be available, after he was unable to secure a long-term deal. Now, he has much more competition in the goalie market than he did last season.
It will be interesting to see how things go once the NHL season restarts. Lehner only had three games in Vegas before the pause. In those three games, he had a ridiculous .940 save percentage. It’s possible he could end up taking the starter job in the playoffs from Marc-Andre Fleury, but that’s still very much up in the air.
Still, even without the run in the playoffs, Lehner will have his suitors. The problem is those suitors will have other options. That could lead the Devils to become a front runner for Lehner’s services. It won’t cost the Devils a five-year deal, and a three-year, $15 million would probably do it. It does complicate things that Blackwood’s deal expires this offseason. If they pay Lehner $5 million, pay Blackwood $3 million then pay $2 million for Schneider’s buyout, that’s $10 million to the goaltender position on one team. That may be too rich for the Devils to swallow.
Thomas Greiss
Next, we go to Lehner’s former teammate Thomas Greiss. He is almost certainly played his last game for the New York Islanders unless something happens to Semyon Varlamov in the playoffs. The Islanders gave big money to Varlamov and a four-year deal this past offseason. Then, they brought in Russian youngster Ilya Sorokin, who might be the best goaltending prospect in the world.
So, Greiss is going to find a new home next season. He could be the player that’s impacted most by the goaltending rush. He doesn’t have a team to go back to and set the market, plus he’s competing for at least 10 quality backups and starters on the market. It’s no wonder Jaroslav Halak decided to just take the Boston Bruins money so close to free agency.
Greiss was absolutely insane last season, putting up a .927 save percentage. This season, he regressed to the mean. He was once again off the charts from October through January. However, he fell apart in February and March. Like, Cory Schneider fell apart (sorry Cory, but it’s true). He had an .864 save percentage in February and an .850 in his two last games.
The last 10 games were quite a bad stretch, but we see backups go through that all the time. It shouldn’t scare the Devils away completely. He’s still a good goalie who can definitely play half the games or a little less as Blackwood gets used to a 55-game workload.
Greiss isn’t worth Lehner-type money. There’s no way he’s getting $5 million per season, and he won’t get any type of term. Greiss is a likely one-to-two-year option. This could be good if the Devils don’t want to go crazy with the goalie spending.
Jimmy Howard
Jimmy Howard spent 14 years with the Detroit Red Wings. He’s been there through very good times and through this season, which was somehow not the worst season in Red Wings history (1985-86 was worse). After close to a decade and a half with one organization, it might be weird to see someone leave. However, it’s time for Howard and the Wings to part ways.
The Wings are still racing to the bottom, and Howard deserves better at 36 years old. If he wants to stay in Detroit for personal reasons, maybe he sticks around or maybe he retires. However, if he wants to make something of his final years in the league, then he will move on.
Howard would be an interesting option for the Devils. His counting stats are terrible, but that’s because he’s stuck on that awful Detroit team. His .882 save percentage is not what you want to see going into his contract year, but there are so many factors going into that number. Is he still a .927 goalie we saw just three years ago? Maybe not, but he’s still a good veteran option.
The question becomes, is this worth buying out Schneider? Howard is a veteran who brings something great behind a decent young goalie. That experience can also be had in Schneider. What the Devils need is someone who is going to be productive.
We feel like Howard still has a good season or two in him. He’s someone who had to play a role, and the majority of that role was to help lead the team through a lot of losses. On the Devils, they have other players to fill those roles. They just need Howard to focus on his play and things will work themselves out.
Anton Khudobin
This one could be the most intriguing while not being as expensive as Robin Lehner. This is undoubtedly an upgrade on how Schneider has currently been playing. Some say that Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin is the best goalie tandem in the league. Neither of them is the best actual goaltender, but together it’s hard to fight their stats.
Khudobin was great this season. At 34 years old, he put together a .930 save percentage. This isn’t exactly out of the ordinary for him, either. He’s had a save percentage north of .920 in four of his eight seasons. Khudobin has been at his best the past two seasons. Bishop has been really good himself, which is why he’s still the starter, but to have someone just step in and be as good as Khudobin has been a major win for the Stars.
The Devils would love to have Khudobin as the backup, even if they have to overpay a little to bring him in. He might cost around $4 million per season, but we think he’d accept a two-year deal. That kind of money seems like a lot for a backup in a year where there’s an abundance of backup options, but again this is a very important position for the Devils.
The big issue for the Devils here is the Stars. Even if the salary cap stays stagnant, the Stars have around $18 million in cap space. They are losing contracts like Corey Perry, Roman Polak, Mattias Janmark, and Andrej Sekera. None of those players are really driving inspiration, so the Stars can focus on bringing back Khudobin and replacing the rest of the players with low-cost options and prospects.
Cam Talbot
Cam Talbot was traded from the New York Rangers to the Edmonton Oilers because he was never going to unseat Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers have a similar issue now with Alexandar Georgiev, but that’s not the point right now.
Talbot would be a great option for the Devils backup goalie position. He’s only 32 years old, so he still has some years before he falls off a cliff unlike other options on this list. He’s been bouncing around as of late, playing for three teams in the last two seasons.
Last season, he was really bad. He had a save percentage in the 800s with both the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers. This season, he found his confidence again with the Calgary Flames. He has a .919 save percentage on a team that’s getting ready to play in the play-in round of the NHL’s return-to-play format.
He’s a workhorse who is finally used to playing a backup role. He needed a season to shake off the sheer workload. Now, he seems like he’s back to the really good goalie he was two seasons ago and beyond. This would be a really good get from the Devils and is an even better third option. The Devils top two options should be Lehner and Khudobin, but if they don’t work out we should all be happy with Talbot.
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Talbot might even be worth a three-year deal just to set them up. We expect him to make somewhere in the $2.5 million range, so with Blackwood making in the $3 million range and the $2 million per season buyout of Schneider, then the goaltender position is making $7.5 million, and that’s just fine.