Value of: G Chris Driedger, Seattle (UFA)

[Jersey Fan 12]

Appears fully recovered from his nasty injury, yet stuck behind Grubauer (?) and Daccord in the Seattle pecking order.

At 30-years-old he is entering his prime years as a goaltender.

Which teams would be willing to sign him and in what salary range? His most recent salary was signed with the presumption that he would start for the Kraken.

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[Ledge And Dairy]

Probably somewhere in the 800k range on a 1 year deal with a cap strapped team where he can get a chance at a tandem job like Colorado

 

[BKarchitect]

Expecting him to be a 1B starter at this point, for a contending team no less, is a bridge way way too far.

Not saying he won’t get that minimum contract but no team is going to bring him in as anything more than a #3 they can easily bury in the AHL.

Outside of 35 glorious and out-of-nowhere games with the Panthers leading to an overpriced contract, I’m not sure he’s ever been more than a depth goalie.

 

[Brodeur]

Apologies if I left anybody off, but here's the approximate game of goalie musical chairs headed to the offseason:

UFA: Samsonov-Broissoit-Kahkonen-Driedger-Talbot-Copley-DeSmith-Pickard-Stolarz-Nedeljkovic-Wedgewood-Jones-Comrie-Lankinen-Reimer-Raanta-Johansson

ANA: Gibson - Dostal
CGY: Markstrom - Vladar - Wolf
EDM: Skinner - Campbell?
LAK: - Rittich
SEA: Grubauer - Daccord
SJS: Vanecek - Blackwood
VAN: Demko - Silovs
VGK: Hill - Thompson

ARZ: Ingram - Vejmelka
CHI: Mrazek - Soderblom
COL: Georgiev - Annunen?
DAL: Oettinger -
MIN: Gustavsson - Fleury
NSH: Saros - Askarov?
STL: Binnington - Hofer
WPG: Hellebucyk -

BOS: Swayman - Ullmark - Bussi?
BUF: Luukkonen - Levi?
DET: Husso - Lyon
FLO: Bobrovsky - Knight?
MON: Montembeault - Primeau
OTT: Korpisalo - Forsberg
TBL: Vasilevskiy -
TOR: - Woll

CAR: Andersen - Kochetkov - Martin
CLB: Merzlikins - Tarasov - Greaves
NJD: - Allen
NYI: Sorokin - Varlamov
NYR: Shesterkin - Quick
PHI: Fedotov - Ersson - Petersen
PIT: Jarry -
WSH: Kuemper - Lindgren

Depending on some prospects, Driedger might be fighting for one of the few remaining backup spots. There might be as few as five or six around the league, so I'm not sure it's a slam dunk he gets a guaranteed NHL gig. Maybe Driedger is more a Magnus Hellberg / Louis Domigue veteran #3 on a one way contract that could be buried in the AHL?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Apologies if I left anybody off, but here's the approximate game of goalie musical chairs headed to the offseason:



Depending on some prospects, Driedger might be fighting for one of the few remaining backup spots. There might be as few as five or six around the league, so I'm not sure it's a slam dunk he gets a guaranteed NHL gig. Maybe Driedger is more a Magnus Hellberg / Louis Domigue veteran #3 on a one way contract that could be buried in the AHL?

Thought Freddie Andersen had a year left.

 

[Brodeur]

Thought Freddie Andersen had a year left.

Yup, you're correct. I'll adjust my list.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I'd give him a shot as the #3 goaltender in Toronto if Jones doesn't sign a new deal.

 

[PullHard]

I’d give him a chance in Detroit if we could find a way to move Husso

 

[Northernhawk]

Would love to see Chicago sign him…dump Soderblom

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Assuming Daccord has taken over as the starter, it's hard to imagine Seattle spending nearly $6 million on a backup for the next three years. But not sure how they move Grubauer. Driedger is an unrestricted free agent but who knows where he lands?

 

[Zonk]

Apologies if I left anybody off, but here's the approximate game of goalie musical chairs headed to the offseason:



Depending on some prospects, Driedger might be fighting for one of the few remaining backup spots. There might be as few as five or six around the league, so I'm not sure it's a slam dunk he gets a guaranteed NHL gig. Maybe Driedger is more a Magnus Hellberg / Louis Domigue veteran #3 on a one way contract that could be buried in the AHL?

Nice work. Small edit: Matt Murray is also UFA.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I think he has a chance as a #3 somewhere, he's going to need to earn his place back in the league though.

 

[BronxBruin]

Someone suggested he'd be a decent option for Boston in case Bussi isn't ready to backup Swayman (assuming Ullmark is traded).

 

[Vitto79]

3rd G at 1 million

 

[lanceuppercut75]

He'll sign as a number 3 and mayyybe outplay the #2 guy to become a backup. 1 or 2 years for $1.5m cap hit at the absolute max, IMO.

 

[biturbo19]

Appears fully recovered from his nasty injury, yet stuck behind Grubauer (?) and Daccord in the Seattle pecking order.

At 30-years-old he is entering his prime years as a goaltender.

Which teams would be willing to sign him and in what salary range? His most recent salary was signed with the presumption that he would start for the Kraken.

Pardon my ignorance if i missed something, but how exactly do we know he's fully recovered and back to a quality NHL level?

He might be...but i'm not sure we have a lot of concrete evidence of that being apparent as the case. Solid AHL numbers are a real "bare minimum" from an NHL caliber netminder...and it's not like he's played a lot of NHL hockey for us to judge lately. He's played in like 2 NHL games in the last calendar year+.



I just don't see anyone really wanting to lean on him as anything more than an organizational depth #2b/3 sort of guy who can shuttle up/down and act as some insurance...especially if they're looking to a young goaltender to make the jump as their backup, which is always unpredictable. He'd be a solid "fallback" or "Plan B" if they don't look quite ready. I wouldn't want to lean on him for much more than that.

He's not really a world beater even at his peak. Which is well past.

 

[GaryPoppins]

Appears fully recovered from his nasty injury, yet stuck behind Grubauer (?) and Daccord in the Seattle pecking order.

At 30-years-old he is entering his prime years as a goaltender.

Which teams would be willing to sign him and in what salary range? His most recent salary was signed with the presumption that he would start for the Kraken.

I would imagine a 2 year deal in his home province of Manitoba playing for the Jets would be a good spot for him. Doesn’t have to be the guy but plays on a team with great defensive structure that would help build numbers.

 

[majormajor]

Assuming Daccord has taken over as the starter, it's hard to imagine Seattle spending nearly $6 million on a backup for the next three years. But not sure how they move Grubauer. Driedger is an unrestricted free agent but who knows where he lands?

It's not hard for me to imagine anymore. We can't move Grubauer. And D'accord is the starter. So those are your two goalies and you forget about the cap hits.

Driedger has had a really good year but with his track record and injuries teams will prefer him in a three goalie system. But he's good enough to make sure he goes to a club where he'll have a legit chance to win significant NHL starts.

 

[Petes2424]

Appears fully recovered from his nasty injury, yet stuck behind Grubauer (?) and Daccord in the Seattle pecking order.

At 30-years-old he is entering his prime years as a goaltender.

Which teams would be willing to sign him and in what salary range? His most recent salary was signed with the presumption that he would start for the Kraken.

Doubt he even gets a one-way deal this summer.

His best chance at any NHL money, as well as any opportunity next season, will be signing with a team as a clear #4, or on a PTO to be a #4, with a team who doesn’t want their #3 (young goalie) being a backup in the NHL just yet.

That way he’ll get the recalls and spot starts during the season, and maybe he plays well enough to earn a backup job in 25’-26’, or even ends up a waiver claim during next season.

Good bet though, we don’t see him with a regular NHL gig again.