With the season approaching, teams are ironing out rosters and trying to finagle money around to make sure they are cap compliant for the beginning of the season. Due to a mid-season trade last season, the San Jose Sharks are looking at going into next season with three goalies unless they are able to move one. Today we will discuss which San Jose Sharks goalie it would make sense to part with and what their price tag would be.
San Jose Sharks Goalie Asking Prices
Kaapo Kähkönen is the Sharks' expected starting goalie, and that leaves James Reimer and Adin Hill out in the cold.@Sheng_Peng takes a look at their most likely and least likely trade destinations ⤵️https://t.co/P7XoRSxVxX
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) August 14, 2022
The expected starter for the Sharks is Kaapo Kahkonen, who was acquired at the trade deadline. So that leaves both James Reimer and Adin Hill on the chopping block. Reimer is a 34-year-old goaltender who is currently on his second stint with the Sharks. He was the main goaltender for San Jose last season and went 19-17-10 for them. His career goals against average is 2.80 and his save percentage is .911% in 433 games played. He has one year left on his contract and comes with a 2.25 million dollar cap hit. Reimer’s asking price is a second-round pick.
Hill is a 26-year-old who played the backup role for the Sharks this season. He went 10-11-1 last season. His career goals against average is 2.74 and his save percentage is .908% in 74 games played. He has been in the league since 2017 and has spent every season with Arizona, except last season. He has shown to be a functional backup goaltender. Hill also has one season left on his contract and carries a 2.175 million dollar cap hit. His asking price from the Sharks would be a fourth or fifth-round pick.
Potential Landing Spots
With the recent announcement that Carey Price will likely not play in the 2022-2023 season, Hill could be an option for the Montreal Canadiens. His numbers are better than the Canadiens current backup. With the scarce amount of goalies on the market, this would make sense for Montreal.
Another team that lost their number one goalie was the Vegas Golden Knights. Robin Lehner had hip surgery and will be out for the season. Goaltender Logan Thompson stepped up at the end of the season and showed he is NHL calibre, but it may be wise to snag someone like Reimer to split the season with. However, the attitude of the Golden Knights is to go into the season and feel out what they have before making any moves.
The Dallas Stars front office and Jake Oettinger‘s camp have not seemed to be able to come to common ground when it comes to a contract for the young goaltender. If Oettinger receives an offer sheet the Stars can’t match or they can’t come to a contract agreement and the Stars decide to cut ties and trade him, Reimer might be appealing to them. He has the experience to be their number one goalie or to split time with Scott Wedgewood. There is still a lot of time for the Sharks to make a decision on who to move and things change daily. The Sharks goaltender situation is something to keep an eye on as we move deeper into the off-season.
*closes eyes imagines James Reimer in teal* pic.twitter.com/8KIiDJ6Kuu
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) July 28, 2021
