Braden Holtby
Braden Holtby has been another popular pick to help the New Jersey Devils solidify their goaltending position. This is a former Stanley Cup winner that is just 32 years old. He should have a few more years of really good hockey under his belt. He kind of proved that this year with the Dallas Stars. He had a .913 save percentage while backing up Jake Oettinger. Oettinger showed he is quickly becoming one of the best goalies in the league with his performance against the Calgary Flames in the playoffs. That will likely lead to the Stars moving on from their one-year window with Holtby.
Holtby needed this bounce back after a disastrous stint with the Vancouver Canucks. It got so bad, that the Canucks had to buy Holtby out. Now, he’s going to cost them $1.9 million next season to play for another team.
This happens from time to time. We saw Marc-Andre Fleury almost lose his career in the middle of it because something just wasn’t clicking. That’s why he was exposed in the expansion draft that sent him to the Vegas Golden Knights. He is now the reigning Vezina Trophy winner at 37 years old.
Could that be Holtby? We suppose so. He definitely has an interesting track record. However, he hasn’t been really good in over five years. He has that 2018 Stanley Cup, but that was the last really good stretch of Holtby’s career. The Devils could use someone with his pedigree, but he’s just too similar to Bernier and Crawford before him. It seems like the Devils should go in a different direction.