Is The Ottawa Senators Acquiring A New Backup Goalie All That Easy?

The Ottawa Senators prioritized goaltending last summer by acquiring star Linus Ullmark. They'll need to do it again.

With Ullmark sidelined week-to-week due to injury, the Sens will need a reliable backup until Ullmark returns.

Anton Forsberg has had a couple of strong outings, but overall, he hasn't been reliable enough, posting a 3.04 goals-against average and .885 save percentage. Call-ups Leevi Merilainen and Mads Sogaard haven't necessarily carried the team, either, both having save percentages of below .900. Merilainen, in particular, is showing promise as the team's backup for next season, but he's not lights-out game after game right now in the NHL.

That said, it won't be very easy to trade for a backup who will move the needle – even pending UFAs.

Ideally, the Sens would pursue the Utah Hockey Club’s Karel Vejmelka as an affordable option – he’s currently earning $2.725 million. But the injury to Utah starter Connor Ingram means they likely will hang onto Vejmelka until they’re much closer to the NHL’s March 7 trade deadline. Even still, Utah is battling for a playoff berth in the Central Division, and Vejmelka has an impressive 2.45 GAA and .914 SP. Those are more reasons why Ottawa would have a tough time getting him.

The New Jersey Devils, meanwhile, have Jake Allen as a pending UFA. He's 5-7-1 compared to Markstrom's 20-8-2 record, but if New Jersey is near the top of the Metropolitan Division, they wouldn't be best served by swapping Allen for Forsberg.

Another franchise that might be willing to move a goalie is the Detroit Red Wings, which have three NHL-caliber netminders right now. Two of them are pending UFA goalies in Alex Lyon (2.78 GAA, .899 save percentage) and Ville Husso (3.47 GAA, .877 SP). Their stats aren’t intimidating in the least. It’s also difficult to see Detroit and Ottawa collaborating when they're two points apart in the standings and both battling for a playoff spot.

The same goes for other Atlantic teams, including the Buffalo Sabres with journeyman James Reimer and the Tampa Bay Lightning with backup Jonas Johansson, who isn't an upgrade on Forsberg anyway.

Related: NHL Free Agency: Will These Six Eastern Conference Pending UFAs Go Elsewhere?

A potentially easier route would be to focus on a rebuilding team, such as the San Jose Sharks, who have veterans Vitek Vanecek (3.84 G.A.A., .885 SP) and Alexandar Georgiev (3.55 G.A.A., .873 SP) preventing top prospect Yaroslav Askarov from transitioning to the NHL full-time.

Ottawa would need to move Forsberg to make the money work in the trade. Georgiev is earning $3.4 million, but the Sharks are only on the hook for $2.924 million of that. Vanecek, meanwhile, has a $3.4-million cap hit, and Forsberg is earning $2.75 million. But those Sharks netminders are arguably worse than Forsberg right now. They’re not going to cost all that much in any trade if the Senators simply want to shake things up, but the question is whether doing so is remotely worth it.

Another option could be Flames goalie Dan Vladar, who makes $2.2 million. Vladar’s 3.08 GAA and .888 SP aren’t mind-blowing either, but the Flames continue to play him and rookie Dustin Wolf as a 50-50 tandem despite the latter posting much better stats. It does suggest the Flames are using Vladar to prevent burning out Wolf, which they could also do if they acquired Forsberg.

The Senators simply won't get an all-star goalie with Vezina Trophy numbers in any trade or even a great backup. Teams don't simply want to give up a No. 2 netminder like that very easily. Ottawa just needs someone to step up and be a veteran presence until Ullmark is fully healthy.

The Senators could ultimately choose to stand pat, go with Forsberg and bide their time until Ullmark returns. But one of the last things Senators GM Steve Staios needs is to miss out on a playoff berth because Ottawa couldn’t find a decent goaltending substitute for Ullmark. That's why the Senators have to do whatever’s necessary – including attaching a draft pick and/or prospect to entice trade partners – if they really want someone else.

It’s not going to be easy to achieve that goal, but that’s Staios’ job. He can’t let the season slip through his fingers because of subpar goaltending, a familiar problem in Ottawa over the years.

The Senators thought they’d addressed that issue by trading for Ullmark, but it’s clear they still need to provide insurance between the pipes. They can’t wait much longer to get it.

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