Confirmed with Link: (NJD/SJS) Vanacek + a 7th for Kahkonen

[Bleedred]

San Jose seems like a perfect spot for Vitek to work on his game. He gave us all he had in the tank his last game against Carolina. I wish him well for sure.

Any place where Blackwood is also at is the perfect spot for him to work on his game.

He had the best year of his career when Blackwood was his teammate and a threat to take games away from him.

Since that threat disappeared after game 82 of last year, Vitek has been completely lost.

 

[njdevils1982]

well i cant give fitz a f*** off on this one.

 

[bossram]

What did VV have left? One year at 3.5 I don't remember.

Yeah pretty much.

Vitek had negative value. Clearing him out for a 7th is actually pretty good work from Fitz.

I was mildly interested in Kahkonen this offseason, so they get a test drive out of him.

 

[Lou is God]

I've been to San Jose area many times, they have good hibachi.

 

[bossram]

Not sure why we keep giving San Jose 7th rounders.... they have this year's and next year's now. I know they're essentially worthless but grabbing someone and having them on reserve list is not a bad thing late. Weird stuff - the 7th in the Meier trade was weird too. Not mad at it though.

Clearing out Vitek for only a 7th is a clear win.

 

[longislanddevil]

So San Jose has our goalie tandem from last year. lol

Sucks to be them!

 

[Bleedred]

Dude, Vtek has always been a choker in important games and the playoffs. His entire career. See: Caps tenure

I literally said this when they signed him. He probably wanted off the team after getting shit on by the coaching staff repeatedly and finally his teammate(s) in the media.

Needed to go, but it's gonna be funny when he posts good #s with the Sharks since there is no pressure.

I think he may very well post better numbers with the Sharks, as he was irredeemable here and needed a change of scenery. One more year here may have chased him out of the league altogether, as hard as it is to chase a goalie out of the league and how they're regurgitated.

He only played 3 games with Washington in the playoffs.

The first game he left injured after 13 minutes.

His second game was far and away better than any playoff game he ever had here. 2 goals on 32 shots and a win.

The only playoff game he had here better than .900% was a 1 goal on 11 shots relief appearance in game 2 of the Carolina series. He also had a zero goal on zero shot relief appearance in game 6 against the Rangers.

 

[bigd]

If Devils will be good with Allen and Kahkonen - we can sign Kahkonen and start next year with Kahkonen, Allen and Daws. If not - Kahkonen is ufa, one year of Vanecek is off for free.

I doubt we are resigning Kahkonen. This was just a trash dump move.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Can a mod correct his last name in the title. For my ODC’s sake and for the VITEK

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

We should get a better idea if our current team is truly goalie killers or not as well these last 20 games.

I don't really think so. It was clear as day that a big culprit was Ruff's stupid system and he's gone now.

Daws was playing great with the adjusted system until Ruff decided to be his usual dumbass self and play him in like every damn game.

This is gunna be inconclusive so no need to bring this up again imo.

 

[Edmonton East]

I think he may very well post better numbers with the Sharks, as he was irredeemable here and needed a change of scenery. One more year here may have chased him out of the league altogether, as hard as it is to chase a goalie out of the league and how they're regurgitated.

He only played 3 games with Washington in the playoffs.

The first game he left injured after 13 minutes.

His second game was far and away better than any playoff game he ever had here. 2 goals on 32 shots and a win.

The only playoff game he had here better than .900% was a 1 goal on 11 shots relief appearance in game 2 of the Carolina series. He also had a zero goal on zero shot relief appearance in game 6 against the Rangers.

I'm aware of his playoff stats. Note I said "important games and playoffs". Had Caps' season tix for multiple years.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Fits out here collecting all the sub .900 goalies lol.

At least it frees up a nice chunk of cap space for next year, he better not squander it.... Get a starting goalie!

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Bleedred]

Fitz deserves a LOT of credit for clearing Vitek's $3.4 million off the books for next year. All it took was a 7th round pick and we got a goalie that's pretty similar to just play out the stretch, so that Daws and Schmid don't have to.

I thought Vitek was gonna have to be shipped out for a 2nd or 3rd rounder or something (to the Sharks! I mentioned that earlier today) in the offseason or possibly even a buyout.

Now we only have $1.9 million in goalies next year with Montreal's retention on Allen.

This is HUGE! I would have sent the 7th round pick and Vitek to them today for NOTHING and considered it a win.

He was a HUGE problem with the team this year (and Ruff LOVED playing him) and had been since the playoffs and was signed for next year.

This is a VICTORY.

 

[Guadana]

I doubt we are resigning Kahkonen. This was just a trash dump move.

If he is really good so why not? Im okay with idea of using three goalies - Allen, Kahkonen and Daws, if Kahkonen is good. He was better in worser team.

AND IF GOALIES ARE NOT GOOD
we still can trade for Markstrom/Saros if needs to. Just sign good left defenseman for top-4 or trade him to balance the line and achieve better results.

If Kahkonen is bad in the end of this season - call Elza and let him go.

 

[theoptimist]

VV/Blackwood is a comorbidity

 

[Based Anime Fan]

Vitek just kicked off, yo!

 

[bigd]

Kahkonen was San Jose's Vitek

San Jose was worse than most AHL teams this year.

 

[Bleedred]

We should get a better idea if our current team is truly goalie killers or not as well these last 20 games.

Both these guys have played on bad teams but have better underlying numbers then our goalies.

If they maintain their levels of play, then we know it was largely a goalie problem, if they all sink, then we know we have a bigger problem with the skaters and system

We still have Rogalski here, so not sure.

Every goalie on this season's team has an expected save percentage considerably lower than the league average, but no one has even played to expected.

Vitek has far and away been the worst of the goalies to play here this year. The kids are a bit closer to their expected save percentages than Vitek was.

 

[bigd]

If he is really good so why not? Im okay with idea of using three goalies - Allen, Kahkonen and Daws, if Kahkonen is good. He was better in worser team.

AND IF GOALIES ARE NOT GOOD
we still can trade for Markstrom/Saros if needs to. Just sign good left defenseman for top-4 or trade him to balance the line and achieve better results.

If Kahkonen is bad in the end of this season - call Elza and let him go.

We are signing Markstrom in the off season!

 

[longislanddevil]

This is by far the best piece of business Fitz has done all day.

I’ve found it odd how VV was first sidelined with an illness which turned into the dreaded lower body injury. I would not be surprised if VV had a legit mental breakdown and flat out didn’t or couldn’t play anymore. I can see the Devils covering it up out of respect for the player. If VV is ready to play for the Sharks now, it’ll be way too coincidental for my liking.

Regardless, it’s addition by subtraction. Frustrating that Fitz didn’t make either of these goalie moves sooner. On the plus side, now we will get to see if our goalies had really stunk that bad or if it was the system (I’m banking on the former)

 

[MachoDiablo]

Bummed about so much this week concerning the team, but freeing up cap space like this ahead of an important offseason is a pretty deft move, I dig it. Allen's likely the backup next year, VV's money's off the books, the hunt for a legitimate starter is on.

Now, I eagerly await next season, when the tandem of VV and Blackwood go 2-0-0 against us with 0 GA.

 

[Bleedred]

Today's trades pretty much signal how fed up Fitz was with the goalies this year.

He really blew the position up today.

Wonder if that's somehow evidence that Rogalski won't survive this year or if maybe he will if goaltending improves somewhat to end the year?

 

[Richer's Ghost]

I actually wanted us to get Kahkonen when he was available in MN so now I get to see if that was a big cringe or not.

 

[forceten]

"This isn't about the player, Kaapo, it's about giving us flexibility next season" (paraphrased - Fitz presser)