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The Pittsburgh Penguins new GM will have some decisions to make as he takes over the team. The roster as constructed last season was not Stanley Cup caliber and there are plenty of areas that need to be improved. The quality of the bottom 6 forward grouping is a major concern moving forward. There will also be some holes on defense left by the presumed departures of Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik, and hopefully Rob Scuderi.
It takes cap space to fill holes on the roster which makes it imperative that every dollar spent is analyzed. One area where I think the Penguins can save some money is at the goaltender position.
Marc Andre Fleury does not bring good cap value at 5M. He is an average goalie who is paid like an above average goaltender. The Penguins need all the cap space they can get and it is time to shed Marc Andre Fleury’s 5M salary.
There are plenty of goaltenders capable of posting similar numbers to Marc Andre Fleury that will not cost as much as him. It is a myth that you need to pay a high cost for an acceptable level of goaltending.
Middle tier goalies are very interchangeable over the course of a larger sample size and the statistics are there to prove it. Why pay a premium for it?
Looking ahead to this offseason there are some veteran goaltenders who should be available. Below is their cap hit from the 2013-2014 season as well as their contractual status.
Marc Andre Fleury is on the high end of the spectrum along with Ryan Miller. Jonas Hiller and Jaro Halak will be UFA’s but I wouldn’t expect them to have huge leverage in gaining any kind of substantial raise over what they were receiving. Antii Niemmi is under contract and the rumblings surround San Jose are that they might be willing to move on from him. James Reimer has seemingly lost out to Jonathan Bernier in the Toronto net and is a prime candidate for an offer sheet or trade.
Those are the financial figures on each goaltender, what about their performance?
Looking over the chart you could make a strong argument that Marc Andre Fleury has the least impressive sample size.
Jonas Hiller may have fallen out of favor in Anaheim but he has played well since overcoming his Vertigo issues he suffered after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Antti Niemi was solid from 2010-2013 and saw a drop off in his play this season. His “drop off” is still right on par with Fleury for the 2013-2014 season.
Ryan Miller has been steady and his recent decline is certainly a product of being on an all-time worst Buffalo Sabres team this past season. Ryan Miller is the oldest goaltender of the group and will probably command the biggest contract, he should not be on the Penguins radar.
James Reimer played on a Maple Leafs team which was guilty of giving up the most shot attempts against in a single season since they started keeping that kind of data (2007-present), his numbers are very respectable given that situation.
If the Penguins want to have a veteran goaltender on their NHL team it would probably make more sense to go in a different direction than Marc Andre Fleury. The results will not be any worse and it is almost certain to be cheaper than the status quo. Every dollar counts when your team has depth issues.
I believe the Penguins would be wise to make a phone call to the Maple Leafs about James Reimer. He has the potential to give the Penguins the most cost effective “veteran” goaltending.
The most common argument I hear from Fleury supporters is that he isn’t given defensive support. Well, James Reimer certainly receives even less support than Fleury and has better numbers.
The Penguins can continue to pay Fleury 5M per year for middle of the road goaltending, or they could save some money and invest it in improving their depth.
I would advocate for moving on from Fleury. There is only so much money to go around, stop paying a premium for average at best results.
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The Hockeybuzz readership does not believe that Jason Botterill should be considered a serious candidate for the vacant Penguins general manager position
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I wrote an article for Hockey Prospectus that makes the case against trading Paul Martin or Kris Letang and why Shero's stay at home defensemen were such a liability. You can find that
here
Thanks for reading!
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