Goaltending Concerns

I know there has been a lot of talk about acquiring a solid D-man and signing a third line center, but one of the positions that cannot be overlooked is Henrik Lundqvist's backup in goal. Although it is very nice that Steve Valiquette makes so little money, he is just not the guy this team wants backing up Lundqvist. He just does not have enough NHL experience. If Sather is serious about making a strong Cup run this year, he has to find another goaltender that the team will feel confident with, if called upon to rest Lundqvist or (knock on wood) if an injury occurs.

You might ask, "Why not Al Montoya?"
- I would love for this to happen, but it won't. The problem is that Montoya has a $1 million dollar base salary and a whopping rookie bonus of 2.5 million dollars that the team can absolutely not have on their cap number. This is actually why I believe that Montoya will be part of a major deal at some point this summer (or year). You cannot pay a guy that much money if you already have your starter (Lundqvist) for the conceivable future.

You might ask, "Won't a goaltender be expensive to obtain?"
-At one point, there were a lot of teams that didn't have a starting goalie and teams were getting a ransom for them. Presently, pretty much all the teams have already obtained some type of quality starter over the last several months, so the market for goalies has pretty much dried up, with the exception of a random team here or there. It should be fairly cheap to acquire and pay a backup goalie.

My hunch is that Sather has been and will be working the phone lines for the next month, trying to acquire a quality defensemen and a backup goaltender. I am not as sure about the third line center position, as that is the only spot that can be reasonably filled by someone (Straka, a prospect, etc.) already in the organization. Lets hope he can find Lundqvist a crease mate.