Has the trade market for Dan Vladar dried up on the Calgary Flames?
By Ryan Pike
1 year agoIf you’ve listened or watched Barn Burner over the past little while, you’ve probably heard the boys discuss the plight of Dustin Wolf. The reigning most valuable player in the American Hockey League, the 22-year-old netminder is the third man in the netminding pecking order for the Flames. At least for now, that is.
But the trade that many expected to see, sending backup goaltender Dan Vladar elsewhere, didn’t materialize, and after a flurry of goaltending signings league-wide, has the trade market for Vladar dried up?
A flurry of goalie moves
On Monday’s edition of Flames Talk on Sportsnet 960, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli teed up Vladar’s situation like so:
“I was even checking in over the weekend is there anything going on with Dan Vladar? Is there a chance that he could be on the move in short order? I think the Flames are looking to get a second-round pick in return. But now you look through the goalie market and there’s very few places that have an available seat open, so that becomes difficult.”
How did the goalie market get so tight? With a bunch of rapid-fire moves.
From the day before the draft to July 2, a dozen secondary goaltenders signed one-way deals with new teams. (We’re leaving Joonas Korpisalo out, because he’s obviously going to be Ottawa’s starter and him signing with the Senators really doesn’t impact the Vladar market at all.)
On June 27, the Sharks acquired Mackenzie Blackwood from New Jersey (and they signed him on July 1).
On July 1, aside from Blackwood, another 10 secondary goaltenders signed with new teams:
- Collin Delia went from Vancouver to Winnipeg
- Alex Nedeljkovic went from Detroit to Pittsburgh
- David Rittich went from Winnipeg to Los Angeles
- Anthony Stolarz went from Anaheim to Florida
- Cam Talbot went from Ottawa to Los Angeles
- Jonathan Quick went from Vegas to the NY Rangers
- James Reimer went from San Jose to Detroit
- Jonas Johansson went from Colorado to Tampa Bay
- Alex Lyon went from Florida to Detroit
- Laurent Brossoit went from Vegas to Winnipeg
And then on July 2, Magnus Hellberg went from Detroit to Pittsburgh.
Where are the open seats?
After a skim through CapFriendly, here’s a quick snapshot of how many goaltenders each team has signed to one-way deals:
- 4: Pittsburgh, Montreal (includes Carey Price on LTIR)
- 3: Los Angeles, Seattle, Vegas (includes Robin Lehner on LTIR), Winnipeg, Carolina, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Detroit, Florida
- 2: Edmonton, San Jose, Vancouver, Arizona, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Nashville, , St. Louis, Columbus, NY Islanders, Washington, Buffalo, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto (includes Matt Murray likely on LTIR, doesn’t count RFA Ilya Samsonov)
- 1: Anaheim, Minnesota (doesn’t count RFA Filip Gustavsson), New Jersey, Boston (doesn’t count RFA Jeremy Swayman)
The perfect trade partner for the Flames in regards to Vladar would have (a) enough cap space to take on his deal, (b) a second-round pick to send the Flames and (c) an NHL goaltending slot open. How many of those spots exist? Anaheim, perhaps. But beyond them, it seems like most teams have their goaltending situations figured out, and that could make it tough for the Flames to move Vladar and get the return they want.
Vladar has two seasons remaining on his current contract. Coincidentally, Wolf has two seasons of waiver exemption remaining. Perhaps waiting for a clearer trade market to emerge is the smartest move the Flames can make, even if it may result in having Wolf dominating the AHL for a little while longer.
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