Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy signed an eight-year contract extension worth a total of $76 million. He is 25 years old and Vasilevskiy’s contract was set to expire after next season.
He was not going to be an unrestricted free agent, but it is very good Tampa Bay got this out of the way. Andrei Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy (NHL’s best goalie award) last season with a .925 save percentage and a 2.40 GAA, along with six shutouts.
With this contract, how will this potentially affect the market next summer?
Well, Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky signed a seven-year deal worth $70 million this offseason after he decided to leave the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The cap space is going up in the NHL and this is one of the reasons why teams are potentially over paying for players.
Having a goalie in the NHL is just as important as having a quarterback in the NFL.
Some of the names that are potentially hitting the open market next summer are Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals, Matthew Murray of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Joonas Korpisalo of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and MacKenzie Blackwood of the New Jersey Devils.
Holtby is currently making $6.1 million in his current contract. He was the goaltender when the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018. Braden Holtby is one of the most under appreciated goalies in the NHL.
Washington is going to have to decide whether to pay him or not re-sign him. He is 29 years old and they have prospect goalie Ilya Samsanov waiting in the wings and he is only 22 years old.
Samsanov is the goalie of the future for the Capitals. There has been no signs of Holtby slowing down, however.
Washington could sign Braden Holtby to maybe a two-year deal at the most because of the Seattle expansion draft in the summer of 2021.
Holtby’s record last season was 32-19-5 with a .911 save percentage and a 3.01 GAA, along with three shutouts.
Matt Murray is in the final year of his contract and he is making $3.75 million. He already has won two Stanley Cups in his NHL Career. Murray is 25 years old. A lot of people have questioned his health and his endurance.
Pittsburgh currently has two other goalies on the roster in Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith. I am surprised that neither of them have been traded yet.
Matt Murray is not worth $7.5-$8 million a season and the Penguins do not currently have the cap space to give him a contract extension at the moment. I would find it hard to believe that they wouldn’t re-sign him, but his health might dictate whether or not Murray is back after this season for the foreseeable future.
His record last season was 29-14-6 with a .919 save percentage and a 2.69 GAA, along with four shutouts.
Joonas Korpisalo is 25 years old and he is most likely the starting goalie for the Columbus Blue Jackets for years to come. Korpisalo has a ton of potential in this league and Columbus might have to pay him based on potential.
His record last season was 10-7-3 with a .897 save percentage and a 2.95 GAA.
MacKenzie Blackwood is 22 years old and he is going to battle it out with Cory Schneider in training camp for the starting goalie job. Blackwood showed flashes of being New Jersey’s goalie for the next decade last season.
The major issue for the Devils is that after this season, Schneider is still under contract for two more seasons. He will be owed $6 million each season.
If MacKenzie Blackwood plays a big role for New Jersey next season, they are going to have no choice but to give him the kind of money that Schneider is getting. The New Jersey Devils might have to trade him to another team that could use a goalie.
Blackwood’s record last season was 10-10 with a .918 save percentage and a 2.61 GAA, along with two shutouts.
In 2021, there will other goalies be affected. Some of those goalies include: Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators, Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins, and Frederik Andersen of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
