- Carey Price n'ira pas au Colorado...
- Jake Allen non plus...
- Selon NHL.com...
- Marc-André Fleury devrait débarquer au Colorado...
- Et les options B...ne comptent pas Allen...
Marc-Andre Fleury, a pending unrestricted free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks, would be the perfect addition if the Avalanche can make it work under the NHL salary cap. Fleury is a three-time Stanley Cup winner. His experience playing in a tandem with Robin Lehner for the Vegas Golden Knights and Matt Murray for the Pittsburgh Penguins would allow for a seamless transition into playing with Kuemper. Joonas Korpisalo (Columbus Blue Jackets) could be available too.
Elvis Merzlikins is the No. 1 in Columbus and Korpisalo is a pending free agent. It makes sense to trade Korpisalo, and he should be of interest to Colorado. He's more cost effective with a $2.8 million cap charge compared to Fleury's $7 million charge, but Fleury has played 162 NHL postseason games and Korpisalo has played nine. Experience should matter to the Avalanche, who should be able to get the Blackhawks to retain some salary in a trade for Fleury by tossing in an asset to sweeten the deal.
Retaining salary in a trade is the price the Canadiens have to pay if they want to save on the salary cap to build their team in other areas. Price is still an elite goalie when he's healthy. He proved that last season, helping Montreal reach the Stanley Cup Final. But the Canadiens have so many needs that an elite goalie is a luxury that at this point they shouldn't want to afford. They could retain 50 percent of Price's reported $10.5 million cap charge and still pay less than $10 million for their goaltending the next few seasons.
Jake Allen has one year left on his contract at $2.875 million, and adding Allen's cap charge and half of Price's puts the Canadiens at $8.125 million. Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau are backups who each can become a restricted free agent after this season, but I wouldn't think either could get more than $1 million in his next contract, so the Canadiens would be under $10 million for goaltending as opposed to paying $10.5 million for one goalie. Price's cap charge could eventually hurt the Canadiens, but by that point maybe the salary cap will have gone up to soften the blow.