Canucks: 3 possible back-up goalie options for next season

The Vancouver Canucks are now in the market for a back-up netminder.

On Tuesday morning, the team confirmed that they were placing Braden Holtby on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout. The former Washington Capital, who was one of the juiciest pieces of conversation for Canucks Twitter over the past few weeks, had one year left on his current deal at an AAV of $4.3 million.

It’s no secret that Holtby struggled mightily with the Canucks this past season. The soon-to-be-32-year-old posted subpar numbers for a second consecutive season, and never really competed for the 1A position with fellow goaltender Thatcher Demko. He did show signs of improvement in the latter half of the season but, given the team’s cap crunch heading into the offseason, as well as their long list of roster spots to fill, the Canucks had no choice but to try and deal away Holtby.

First, they left him off the expansion protected list, hoping that the Seattle Kraken, the league’s newest and 32nd franchise, would take him off of their hands as a 1B or even 1C option for next season. According to multiple reports, the Kraken had interest in Holtby as their selection, but only if Vancouver were to retain some of his salary.

Strike 1.

The Canucks also explored the trade market. Again, the interest was there for the former Vezina Trophy winner, but it also sounded like most teams wanted to wait until free agency to see if they could land their first option between the pipes instead of settling for option three or four on their rankings.

Strike 2.

At the end of the day, with the clock winding down on the first buyout window, General Manager Jim Benning and his front office staff decided it would be best to explore their third and final option. With the Holtby buyout, the Canucks were able to save $3.8 million on the cap for this upcoming season, and can now enter free agency with more financial flexibility to pursue other players.

The one issue? They’ll need someone to replace Holtby.

Given that Demko has undoubtedly solidified his position as the team’s best goaltender for at least the next five years, and that the league will be returning to an 82-game format next season, it’s even more important that the Canucks can land a reliable and steady back-up option. Qualifying for the playoffs is a must for this organization, meaning that the team will need to acquire a secondary goaltender that can secure at least 10-15 wins to get them over the Pacific Division hump.

However, given that the current crop of UFA netminders are still in their late 20’s and early 30’s, and will likely demand lucrative multi-year deals, the Canucks will need to be very selective when it comes to their next back-up. Plus, with prospect Michael DiPietro waiting in the Abbotsford wings, it would make sense for the team to look into veteran netminders that would be willing to sign for only one year.

Given that criteria, let’s take a look at three possible secondary options for the Canucks between the pipes.

1. Jaroslav Halak

There aren’t too many veteran UFA goaltenders on the market that fit the aforementioned and ideal requirements for the Canucks, but Jaroslav Halak definitely tops that list.

The 36-year-old has spent the last three years in Boston, and is recently coming off a one-year, $3.5 million deal that he signed in May 2020. Despite his age, Halak was still able to put up decently solid numbers with the Bruins, posting a 2.42 GAA and a .915 SV% over his three-year tenure.

His numbers dipped this past season, as indicated by his 2.53 GAA and .905 SV%, but Halak still achieved a winning record. In 19 regular season games, he went 9-7-4, while also posting two shutouts in the process.

Halak is also used to playing more games than expected for a back-up.

During the past three seasons, Halak has had to step up in relief on five separate occasions after starter Tuukka Rask was sidelined due to injury. Most recently, Halak suited up for 10 of 13 games between March 3rd and April 3rd after Rask suffered two separate injuries. Over than span, Halak posted a record of 5-3-2, to go along with 281 shots against and a .913 SV%.

Of course, Halak’s biggest hero moment occurred during the 2020 playoffs.

Just a few hours before their game three match-up in the first round against the Carolina Hurricanes, Rask announced that he’d be opting out of the remainder of the postseason due to family reasons. Halak had to fill in as a result, and came away with the victory to give his team a 2-1 series lead. Boston would go on to beat Carolina in five games before falling to the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning in six.

Given his age and where he’s at in his career, it’s expected that Halak will sign a deal with low salary structure and high performance bonus incentive, as indicated by Thomas Drance of The Athletic. However, given his previous success and consistency as a back-up, as well as how the UFA goaltending market is shaping up, Halak could also garner up to two years in his next contract, with an AAV close to $2 million.

Because of this, the Canucks will need to be careful with contract negotiations moving forward. If they are indeed pursuing Halak, they’ll need to not only make sure that they’re not taking on too big a risk in the 36-year-old, but to also find a way to keep the deal between $1M and $1.5M for no longer than one year.

3. Laurent Brossoit

This one is relatively new to the list.

Brossoit spent the last three seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, serving as the back-up netminder to starter Connor Hellebuyck. During his time in Winnipeg, the Port Alberni native played in 54 games, where he put up a record of 25-19-3, to go along with a 2.74 GAA and a .913 SV%.

Brossoit spent his first five NHL seasons between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, before signing a one-year, $650,000 deal to join Winnipeg as a free agent in 2018.

Winnipeg continued to extend Brossoit one year at a time for the next two years, slowly increasing his AAV during that span. He was paid $1.5 million last season, and ended up going 6-6-0 in relief of Hellebuyck. In addition to the .500 record, Brossoit also put decent numbers, as indicated by his 2.42 GAA, .918 SV% and one shutout between the pipes.

That one shutout came against the Canucks on February 19th, after he stopped all 29 shots faced.

Despite his success in Winnipeg, it appears that the Jets organization has decided to go in another direction for their back-up position.

On Tuesday evening, it was announced that Winnipeg had resigned netminder Eric Comrie to a one-year deal worth $750,000. The 26-year-old was coming off of a two-year, $1.4 million deal that he inked with Winnipeg in September 2019. During this past season, Comrie was placed on waivers and claimed by the New Jersey Devils, only to be reclaimed by the Jets just one month later.

With the signing of Comrie, it appears that Brossoit’s services are no longer needed in Winnipeg.

So what exactly does that mean for Brossoit? There are a few options.

On one hand, Brossoit might be more than happy to continue his career as a back-up, something that would be music to the ears of Canucks’ management.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Brossoit was still able to record expected performance numbers just below that of Hellebuyck, despite a much smaller number of games with longer breaks in between those contests.

Compared to Halak and Elliott, Brossoit would also be a younger option with much more upside, and could likely provide Vancouver with the 10-15 wins that they would need to get over the postseason hump with little to no issues. Plus, based on his track record, Brossoit might only be interested in playing north of the border.

At just 28 years old, however, this might also be the perfect time for Brossoit to start transitioning himself into a starting goaltender in this league.

Of course, he’s still far from proven himself, having only played a career-high 21 games in any given season. But there are some clubs out there that might take a flyer on Brossoit, whether it be on a low-risk, low-term deal on a team that already has another solid goaltending option and is looking to put together a competent 1A/1B tandem, or on a team that doesn’t have a netminder with any NHL experience and is looking to give someone an opportunity to grow and perform well within the organization.

There’s also the notion that Brossoit might not want to play behind Demko, given that the 25-year-old is expected to suit up for 55-60 games next season, while also building upon his stellar performances from last season.

If Brossoit does opt for the former, while agreeing to just a slight raise from his last contract, it would be wise for the Canucks to at least kick that tire to see if he’d be interested. And yes, it would definitely be a big “if” at this point.

Free agency is set to kick off on July 28th at 9am PST.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Will management be able to land any of these back-up options in free agency, or do they need to look elsewhere? Make sure to let us know in the comments!