But with all the cap issues, we certainly aren't adding more money to the goalie position.. so who do they get at or below Georgiev's cap hit that's a clear upgrade?
Depending on how much Mitt's raise costs, and who they move in the off season, they may have room to afford a little more than George if needed. Hard to tell with so many factors unresolved.
We're dealing in a lot of hypotheticals here, but IMO the most likely factor to become true, is that if the starter fails them in the playoffs this year, and continues to let in soft goals, they won't want to go into next year with the same guy.
Unless Annunen comes in and stands on his head for a multi round run, he probably won't give them enough confidence to go with the same tandem either. They'd have two big question marks, and it seems doubtful they'll be comfortable with that after a hypothetical disappointing playoff loss.
I think they'll do what it takes to find someone else, but that's just my speculation. They probably won't be able to spend $6-7M on a starter, but maybe they can do something in the $4-5M range if they absolutely have to.
Annunen being over a $1M cheaper than Franky will help with that, and they can also pay a little extra for retention. Georgiev + 1st + prospect for $1-2M retention on a guy with 1-2 years left, for example. They got $1M retention for one year on Kuemper for Timmins + 1st + conditional 3rd.
