Proposal: Calvin Pickard to Ottawa

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Varly

Varly would never be picked by Las Vegas. Too much money for that calibre of goalie, when one can be signed as UFA if necessary.

Varly has little trade value at his contract. Pickard should be the goalie protected if he has any type of good season with the Avs.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Varly would never be picked by Las Vegas. Too much money for that calibre of goalie, when one can be signed as UFA if necessary.

Varly has little trade value at his contract. Pickard should be the goalie protected if he has any type of good season with the Avs.

Too much money for a top 10 goaltender? I hope you stick around to defend your stance, it should be good.

 

[varano]

Too much money for a top 10 goaltender? I hope you stick around to defend your stance, it should be good.

Top 10 goalie??? Are you for real?

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

NOTE: This deal doesn't have to happen right now. Could happen any time during or after the season (as long as it is before the expansion draft).

Gabriel Gagne/Filip Chlapik, Hammond

Calvin Pickard

With Anderson already being 35 and no top prospects at the goaltending position in the organization after trading Lehner, the Sens are in need of a future #1 goalie. Hogberg, O'Connor and Driedger have NHL potential but none of them realistically look like future #1 goaltenders at this time. Even if one of them does end up a starting goalie, it will likely be many years down the road. Anderson is going to be a 37 year old UFA in a couple seasons and the Sens will need to replace him. Pickard has had very solid numbers behind Varlamov the past two seasons and looks to have #1 potential. Pickard can split starts with Anderson and take over as the #1 goalie when he leaves via UFA or retires at the end of the 2017/18 season.

With the expansion draft coming up, Avs can only protect one goalie, and I think most are in agreement that Varlamov will be that goalie. If Pickard is traded it will probably be for futures (just like in the case of 90% of goalie trades). Since the Avs have a good future on the blueline with Barrie, Johnson, Bigras, Zadorov, Meloche etc... a good forward prospect or a high pick would probably be the ideal piece going back. Gagne/Chlapik are good forward prospects that were recently drafted in the 2nd round. Having not done much to increase or decrease their worth since then, their value is probably that of a 2nd round pick. Hammond goes the other way as Pickard's replacement as Varlamov's backup goalie. Not that he's a cap dump at 1.35M, but Sens could probably throw in a mid-round pick as compensation for taking Hammond as well.

Thoughts?

I have kind of lost faith in Varly (injuries, inconsistent play) and don't want to trade Pickard until Varly reestablishes his elite form.

 

[stpn47]

Everyone saying that Pickard isn't worth a 1st round pick needs to realize that we drafted him in the 2nd and that he's certainly proven he's worth more than that... if we get lowball offers I'd rather just keep him and expose Varly at the expansion draft.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Varly would never be picked by Las Vegas. Too much money for that calibre of goalie, when one can be signed as UFA if necessary.

Varly has little trade value at his contract. Pickard should be the goalie protected if he has any type of good season with the Avs.

Varlamov has only the 12th biggest cap hit amongst the 30 starters in the NHL. He also has a manageable term as he is only locked down for another few years. He's coming off of a subpar season, but a team isn't going to find a goalie with Varlamov's upside in free agency, they don't exist.

Who was the biggest free agent goalie this off season? Reimer? Last off season? Niemi? It is delusional to think a team can find a goalie like Varlamov in free agency when it hasn't happened in a long time.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Top 10 goalie??? Are you for real?

Positively. The gap between Varly and most of the goalies outside the top 5-ish is merely team performance and coaching. I'm quite confident Varly will regain his standing this season once Bednar settles in.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Top 10 goalie??? Are you for real?

Over the last 3 seasons combined Varly has the 7th best save percentage in the NHL. That's while playing on the Colorado Avalanche. I'd say he's top 10 for sure.

 

[spader]

You know what I don't get about this proposal? If the Avs are trading Pickard because he's going to get picked up if he's exposed, wouldn't he just get selected from Ottawa too?

EDIT: Wait up. Is it the expectation that the Sens would protect him? Cause I don't see that happening.

 

[edguy]

Id LOVE Pickard in Ottawa. BUT the only way we get him is if Avs decide Varly is their long term guy and they plan to protect him over Pickard. now in this scenario Ottawa would still likely need to cough up at least Lazar for him. even then Avs could get better offers

 

[spader]

Over the last 3 seasons combined Varly has the 7th best save percentage in the NHL. That's while playing on the Colorado Avalanche. I'd say he's top 10 for sure.

SV% aside, I have Holtby, Price, Rinne, Quick, Lundqvist, Crawford, Bishop, Rask, Jones, Schneider ahead of Varly. Maybe even Fleury, Mrazek, Gibson. Everyone ranks players differently, but that's my take.

I feel like SV% is a great tool to use, but you also have to consider injury status. Varly seems to be made of glass.

 

[strictlyrandy]

SV% aside, I have Holtby, Price, Rinne, Quick, Lundqvist, Crawford, Bishop, Rask, Jones, Schneider ahead of Varly. Maybe even Fleury, Mrazek, Gibson. Everyone ranks players differently, but that's my take.

I feel like SV% is a great tool to use, but you also have to consider injury status. Varly seems to be made of glass.

LOL, wow..

Varly had a down year last year and still posted a better sv% than Rinne...on the Avalanche.

Saying you have Gibson and Mrazek above Varly is just plain silly. Same with Jones tbh.

Right now Varly is in the top 10. Especially if you're thinking Rinne is in that conversation.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

You know what I don't get about this proposal? If the Avs are trading Pickard because he's going to get picked up if he's exposed, wouldn't he just get selected from Ottawa too?

EDIT: Wait up. Is it the expectation that the Sens would protect him? Cause I don't see that happening.

Vegas can only take 3 goalies. The ideal situation for Vegas would probably be to get a veteran NHL starter who is under contract for a few years, a mid 20s backup with starter potential who is still an RFA, and another goalie in their mid 20s with potential who can clear waivers at the start of the season.

Anderson will be 36 and have 1 year left on his deal. It was also very public that during the Lehner trade last summer, Anderson really wanted to stay in Ottawa. Unless the options at starter are not there, I don't think Vegas takes a 36 year old who might resent going there and will be a free agent within a year. Granted, I am not saying that Vegas won't take a GREAT player just because they don't want to be there. But they've got to pick their battles, and 1 year of Anderson probably isn't worth wasting 1 of their 3 goalie picks when they can get a longer term solution.

Ottawa would certainly be taking a risk by leaving Anderson unprotected, but it'd be a minimal one at that, and this time next year Pickard will probably be ready to be an NHL starter. He is probably ready now but is considered unproven. An Anderson/Pickard 1A/1B tandem for at least a year is just the cherry on top for a trade that brings Pickard to Ottawa.

 

[spader]

LOL, wow..

Varly had a down year last year and still posted a better sv% than Rinne...on the Avalanche.

Saying you have Gibson and Mrazek above Varly is just plain silly. Same with Jones tbh.

Right now Varly is in the top 10. Especially if you're thinking Rinne is in that conversation.

You picked two guys from my "maybe" list. I don't see how he's ahead of any of the 10 that I suggested. He's a decent goalie. He's a top 15 goalie, but I don't see him as a top 10. Especially since he seems to have the injury bug.

 

[Sweoilers]

Again, I didn't say goalies don't go for 1sts, I said it rarely happens. When it does rarely happen it's usually a better goalie than Pickard going the other way.

If the decision is made to trade Pickard, it's probably optimistic to expect a 1st round pick (or player with comparative value) coming back, especially considering the timing.

The only starting goalie who hasn't gone for a first within the last 4 years is Cam Talbot and his trade was a steal for the oilers. Young number ones in net goes for middle to late first, sometimes with a cap dump or a high second with a good prospect.

 

[airbus220]

Vegas can only take 3 goalies. The ideal situation for Vegas would probably be to get a veteran NHL starter who is under contract for a few years, a mid 20s backup with starter potential who is still an RFA, and another goalie in their mid 20s with potential who can clear waivers at the start of the season.

Vegas can take 7 goalies but the the best would be if they wouldn't be forced to take a goalie at all. Vegas can get good UFA goalies in July. Vegas will take goalies when other exposed players have less quality than on other teams. Vegas shouldn't draft expensive goalies because they are only allowed to draft an avg cap hit of 2.43M per player. If they draft 1 expensive player they need to compensate that with 2-3 cheap players who most likely have less value.

 

[airbus220]

Why trade Hammond at all. He should be a keeper. The best would be to have 2 Hammond type players with low salary. Hammond should be protected.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Why bother trading for a goalie now? There's going to be a ton of goalies on the market dirt cheap by the trade deadline.

 

[strictlyrandy]

You picked two guys from my "maybe" list. I don't see how he's ahead of any of the 10 that I suggested. He's a decent goalie. He's a top 15 goalie, but I don't see him as a top 10. Especially since he seems to have the injury bug.

Except I also listed Rinne and Jones.

Rinne isn't a top 10 goalie and neither is Jones. Varly is.

 

[airbus220]

Rinne isn't a top 10 goalie and neither is Jones. Varly is.

Varlamov was so bad last season that he's #28 on my list. Poor seasons at his salary are extra useless.

 

[Ivan13]

Varlamov was so bad last season that he's #28 on my list. Poor seasons at his salary are extra useless.

 

[edguy]

Varlamov was so bad last season that he's #28 on my list. Poor seasons at his salary are extra useless.

And there goes all credibility

 

[airbus220]

And there goes all credibility

I would rather have Domingue in goal and spend 5M on a forward who will also shoot many goals than Varlamov in net and no goals for.

 

[spader]

Except I also listed Rinne and Jones.

Rinne isn't a top 10 goalie and neither is Jones. Varly is.

It's ok that we disagree. Everyone ranks their top 10 differently. Like I said, I have him in my top 15, but that's about it. As far as I can tell, he's had one excellent season and a bunch of good ones. And a bunch of injuries. He's a middle of the road guy to me.

 

[Beville]

Anything to get rid of Hammond so delusional Sens fans stop thinking he's the best thing since sliced bread for his cinderalla run...