This summer is truly an interesting summer when it comes to goalies. July 1 will see several legit goalies as free agents, and we will get to ALL of them, but perhaps the biggest and best of these is former Cup champ Braden Holtby...The Caps could still extend Holtby, but the general feeling is they won't...mainly because they haven't yet.
I am not so sure though. Whenever a significant free agent plays out a season without so much a peep of an extension it means one of two things...Either the team and the player have already decided to part ways, or they have talked, know each other wants to get a deal done, and have decided to not show their hand.
The Caps plan is/was probably to ride Holtby's experience through the playoffs one more time and then move on to Ilya Samsonov...and they should because Ilya Samsonov has been the better goalie this year and will be great for years to come.
This puts Holtby in an interesting situation. He still has a ton of value and there are serious teams who will have to consider him. I don't see him taking a smaller deal and transitioning to the backup in DC. Who might be interested?
Interested in a Cup Winning goalie? Well, let's see... How about teams who are already playoff teams and consider themselves legit Cup contenders?...but have question marks in net... Toronto, Nashville, Carolina, Edmonton, and Calgary is a starting point...
How about San Jose? The Sharks may not be ready quite yet to hit the rebuild button and many feel they are still good enough if they got more solid play in the net...
How much will Holtby get?
Depending on how much (and if) the Cap really rises Holtby should be in the 6-8 per range...Especially looking at how many teams have an interest...
What's the buzz?
Today's Buzzcast will be live at 1pm and I will be simulating the All-time Oilers versus the All-Time Flames in the afternoon... I am putting together the Islanders and Rangers teams as well and I am getting a lot of requests for Penguins/Flyers and Leafs/Canadiens rematches. What rivalry/teams are you interested in seeing?
Stay Safe!
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) August 2, 2017