Confirmed with Link: Devils acquire Vitek Vanecek and 46th Overall pick from WSH for 37th Overall pick and 70th Overall pick

[AlexModvechkin8]

Caps fan here. Take care of Vitek for us, just like with Siegs. Vanny is a great guy who has earned his spot every step of the way. They owe a lot to him, especially for the 2020-21 season when Lundqvist had to retire and Sammy was hurt and he went from Hershey starter/organizational #3 to starter overnight.

That said, there is a reason the Caps were ok trading him in-division and are willing to take a chance in the FA/trade market rather than bring him back. He's a technically sound goalie but he lacks the athleticism that higher-level starters have which is why he has a limited ceiling. He looks small in net and is super streaky -- he will look like a bonafide #1 for a few games and then look like a sieve for a long stretch -- and he is brutal on the PK because his movement and puck tracking laterally is lacking.

Sammy was given a ton of games down the stretch because VV has a ceiling and his ceiling isn't good enough to carry a team into the postseason. He'll be fine as a platoon goalie, assuming Blackwood is healthy again. Given your baseline in the net from last year I think you'll be pleased with him even though he probably tops out as a low-end starter/quality backup.

I hope he does well for you guys, but not too well

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

relax Glen, it aint that serious

He's still coming off his Nemec-pick bender

 

[Camille the Eel]

Rollie having him play deeper in goal, as much as I hated it, may have been better for him if he is indeed a reactionary goalie.

His reactions and his battling is all he’s got going for him so far because his fundamentals - angles, positional play, staying compact when he moves - are the weakest I’ve almost ever seen in a goalie who’s been given his responsibilities. If he would just clean up his technical game.

 

[Nubmer6]

His reactions and his battling is all he’s got going for him so far because his fundamentals - angles, positional play, staying compact when he moves - are the weakest I’ve almost ever seen in a goalie who’s been given his responsibilities. If he would just clean up his technical game.

The thing is, that's coachable, or at least much more so than athleticism.

 

[Camille the Eel]

The statement by Fitz that he’s satisfied in goal strikes me as the most fatuous thing I’ve ever heard from him. Time will tell. But the job of a GM is to be brutally honest with himself about players and I truly fear I see next season going down the tubes with him betting the farm on Blackwood and also if we don’t get better as a puck possession team that can stand up to pressure (in center ice and our end). However he does it. If not, we can be out of it again by Thanksgiving.

 

[ninetyeight]

Considering we got below .900 goaltending from everyone except Bernier (.902) who only played 10 games, getting at least above .900 from our backup would be a good start..

 

[glenwo2]

He's still coming off his Nemec-pick bender

 

[MadDevil]

The statement by Fitz that he’s satisfied in goal strikes me as the most fatuous thing I’ve ever heard from him. Time will tell. But the job of a GM is to be brutally honest with himself about players and I truly fear I see next season going down the tubes with him betting the farm on Blackwood and also if we don’t get better as a puck possession team that can stand up to pressure (in center ice and our end). However he does it. If not, we can be out of it again by Thanksgiving.

To be fair, being satisfied or content with Vanecek/Blackwood doesn't necessarily mean he can't be more satisfied or content by making another move. Although I do think that's probably who we end up with. I think, valid or not, they're going with the "he was never healthy" reason to give Blackwood another chance. It's also not like he's 28 and a finished product. I would hope the leash is shorter with him though.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Mac isn't getting any kind of real money from us unless he bounces back. This feels like his last chance here.

I still rather roll the dice on him now that we have another goalie then hand out any of these massive contracts that really aren't going to be worth it.

 

[bossram]

The statement by Fitz that he’s satisfied in goal strikes me as the most fatuous thing I’ve ever heard from him. Time will tell. But the job of a GM is to be brutally honest with himself about players and I truly fear I see next season going down the tubes with him betting the farm on Blackwood and also if we don’t get better as a puck possession team that can stand up to pressure (in center ice and our end). However he does it. If not, we can be out of it again by Thanksgiving.

I mean, he's not going to come out and say, "I'm so f**cked and desperate for goaltending". That's not going to help him much negotiating with other teams and agents.

 

[Triumph]

The statement by Fitz that he’s satisfied in goal strikes me as the most fatuous thing I’ve ever heard from him. Time will tell. But the job of a GM is to be brutally honest with himself about players and I truly fear I see next season going down the tubes with him betting the farm on Blackwood and also if we don’t get better as a puck possession team that can stand up to pressure (in center ice and our end). However he does it. If not, we can be out of it again by Thanksgiving.

There's not really a solution available, though. Teams do not have extra goalies anymore. There's three teams who need a goalie - Edmonton, Toronto, and Washington, and there's 2 goalies available in UFA. San Jose is carrying 3 goalies right now. And that's really about it, unless you think 15 games of Eric Comrie means he's a starter. Maybe Detroit's open to trading Nedeljkovic. But Vanacek and Blackwood will have to do.

 

[Guttersniped]

The statement by Fitz that he’s satisfied in goal strikes me as the most fatuous thing I’ve ever heard from him. Time will tell. But the job of a GM is to be brutally honest with himself about players and I truly fear I see next season going down the tubes with him betting the farm on Blackwood and also if we don’t get better as a puck possession team that can stand up to pressure (in center ice and our end). However he does it. If not, we can be out of it again by Thanksgiving.

Joe Sakic said he was going with Georgiev and Francouz. That means Georgiev is going to be the 1A and doing a lot of the heavy lifting because Francouz is 32 year old fragile china doll.

Toronto is kicking the tires on Matt f***ing Murray.

For Gods sake, it’s an ugly world out there in terms of goalies.

There isn’t a solution involving another goalie with any name that will please you.

We aren’t getting Kuemper or Campbell. There’s nothing else on the UFA market worth mentioning.

There’s nothing realistically available to us on the trade market that involves anyone exciting.

We aren’t trading for Gibson, who very likely won’t get traded, unless someone gets desperate and pays up.

San Jose will presumably trade a goalie at some point but a bunch of teams will be interested in whatever they throw overboard. And whoever it is very likely won’t be an improvement for us or just a negligible one.

The big danger of Off-Season Goalie Musical Chairs is that the music stops with you holding nothing. Or Martin Jones.

Fitz got a goalie. It’s a bit much to expect him to get two in the worst off-season goalie market we’ve seen in years and years.

I never understood what went wrong with Blackwood’s heel so I don’t know if there’s a chance it can still be a problem or get worse. I agree that if there’s still a problem (and they’re just covering it up) then Fitz is playing with fire.

If Blackwood is actually healthy as claimed then I can see why he’s going with him.

 

[NJDevs26]

The statement by Fitz that he’s satisfied in goal strikes me as the most fatuous thing I’ve ever heard from him. Time will tell. But the job of a GM is to be brutally honest with himself about players and I truly fear I see next season going down the tubes with him betting the farm on Blackwood and also if we don’t get better as a puck possession team that can stand up to pressure (in center ice and our end). However he does it. If not, we can be out of it again by Thanksgiving.

How could he possibly say anything else in public? If he says they're still looking for upgrades then everyone knows Blackwood is on the block, and not only does the price sink even lower than low but then the player's even more unhappy than he already was last year if you can't trade him (see: Mayfield, Baker this offseason with the Browns).

 

[AfroThunder396]

The talent gap between skaters and goalies hasn't been this big in over 30 years. The goalie market is a wasteland right now.

There's just way too much demand and not enough supply. Fitz saw the writing on the wall and wasn't going to give 5-6M to either inconsistent fringe starters or guys who are the same age as Schneider when he declined.

Obviously the job of a GM is to be an opportunist and to get good deals when you can. But everyone, and I mean EVERY is looking for goalies right now. This is the best we're going to do.

This will be Blackwood's last chance. Daws at least showed us something during his callup, I want him to play as much as possible in Utica next year and maybe he can earn a look in 2024.

 

[MartyOwns]

this was probably already answered but does this mean bernier is dead?

 

[Billdo]

Between this and Ruff, Fitzgerald isn't making good choices.

So basically we're still in the same spot as last year.

Except he's a league average goaltender... we had historically bad goaltending last year, so it's not the same spot. Or anywhere close really.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

It’s all really riding on how much a healthy Blackwood is able to contribute. I think Vanacek as a 1B and contingency options like maybe an improved Daws or a somehow able to bounce back Bernier is realistically the best we were able to achieve this summer. Short of sinking money and term at the FAs with no guarantee they’d sign here over their other options, of course.

I really do think we’ll be improved at this position, if only because it’s nearly impossible to be worse than last year.

 

[ninetyeight]

Except he's a league average goaltender... we had historically bad goaltending last year, so it's not the same spot. Or anywhere close really.

I'm guessing he was referring to the start of the season with 1A1B Bernier Blackwood, with expectations of a MBW bounce back.

 

[Bleedred]

this was probably already answered but does this mean bernier is dead?

No

But it doesn't sound like he'll be an option of any kind to start the season. Both in the end of season press conference, as well as both pressers last week, both before and after acquiring Vanecek, Fitzy was talking like he wouldn't be ready to start the season.

And he also said in both pressers this week that when he is ready, then we'll worry about what happens with him and the goalie rotation and where he fits.

 

[Nubmer6]

The talent gap between skaters and goalies hasn't been this big in over 30 years. The goalie market is a wasteland right now.

Makes me pretty happy that Fitz went for the trade option early, instead of gambling that someone would be available in the FA market.

 

[Classic Devil]

I'm kind of baffled. What do people expect us to do in goal? What options are out there? Vanecek should be serviceable, and right now the league has an extreme shortage of reliably serviceable goaltenders, so that's a damn big step up. Teams only get top-10 goaltenders through the draft today. They don't hit unrestricted free agency, and they're rarely traded, because the fide article is rare.

Vanecek is a good option here, especially for the price we paid for him (read - next to nothing).

 

[Blender]

I'm kind of baffled. What do people expect us to do in goal? What options are out there? Vanecek should be serviceable, and right now the league has an extreme shortage of reliably serviceable goaltenders, so that's a damn big step up. Teams only get top-10 goaltenders through the draft today. They don't hit unrestricted free agency, and they're rarely traded, because the fide article is rare.

Vanecek is a good option here, especially for the price we paid for him (read - next to nothing).

We'd have to grossly overpay either one of the free agents or in a trade to get something better than a league average goalie like Vancek. This board would flip out if that happened.

 

[ninetyeight]

With the terrible UFA goalies situation, I'm surprised more GMs didn't look for euro goalies. At least for 3rd goalie / AHL injury insurance. Yzerman once again ahead of the curve.

 

[Bleedred]

I like the Vanecek move

I don't like that Blackwood potentially has to play 30+ games here next year or even more if Lindy Ruff can't contain his erection for him

I don't believe Blackwood is gonna be very good again (I give it a better chance than I did to 32-33 year old Schneider though)

I don't trust Ruff to be able to contain his Blackwood erection, much like when Laviolette felt like he had to play Samsonov late in the regular season last year when Vanecek dropped off a bit

I'm tired of the annual ''He's gonna bounce back! I can feel it! Look how great he played to end last year!'' whether it's with Marty, Cory, Blackwood. Obviously you can't say ''Look how great he played to end last year!'' with Blackwood, that's more about the Cory stuff.

But it's like the same shit almost ever year, just with a different goalie. And the last one we kept a year too long.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

The talent gap between skaters and goalies hasn't been this big in over 30 years. The goalie market is a wasteland right now.

there was like 40 guys at PPG with decent games started.

And ~30 guys with 35+ goals.

It's like early 90s hockey all over again!