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The NHL trade market began to percolate last week.
The post-Thanksgiving deals saw former Columbus first-round David Jiricek head to the Minnesota Wild and the swap between the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators of backup goaltenders Justus Annunen and Scott Wedgewood.
While most of the Stanley Cup playoff contenders are rock solid between the pipes, a few have question marks in goal that may need to be addressed before the March 7 NHL trade deadline.
Here are five clubs that could be in the market for a starting or tandem goalie before the deadline:
1. Colorado Avalanche
Adding the veteran Wedgewood gives Avalanche coach Jared Bednar a solid and dependable backup to fall back on. But the 32-year-old is not a No. 1, and Colorado simply cannot depend on starter Alexandar Georgiev any longer if they have Stanley Cup-winning aspirations.
Georgiev entered Tuesday’s game in Buffalo with a .875 save percentage and then allowed four goals on eight shots before being pulled in the first period. Wedgewood stopped all 22 shots in relief as the Avalanche came back against the Sabres.
2. Los Angeles Kings
The Kings have used four goalies this season, with Darcy Kuemper going on injured reserve last month for the second time this season and backup David Rittich being forced into the starter’s role. Kuemper was just activated off the IR on Wednesday.
Los Angeles has been a turnstile between the pipes ever since moving on from Jonathan Quick. Cam Talbot and Joonas Korpisalo were not permanent solutions, and Kuemper and Rittich seem to be another inadequate stopgap if the former can’t stay healthy. Their team save percentage ranks 22nd in the NHL, per naturalstattrick.com.
3. Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers rode 26-year-old Stuart Skinner to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last season, but after going 36-16-5, Skinner is only one game over .500 this season (8-7-2).
Skinner strung together better performances in his last three games, but that’s only brought up his save percentage to .889 and goals-against average down to 2.97. Backup Calvin Pickard hasn’t been much better, with a .895 SP and 2.50 GAA.
While the cause of Edmonton’s struggles may be more tied to their surprising lack of offensive production, they could look at an upgrade in goal as a path to improvement.
Related: Four Reasons The Oilers’ Power Play Is One Of The NHL’s Worst Right Now
4. Carolina Hurricanes
Having a healthy goaltender has been an issue for the Hurricanes for years, with the checkered injury history of Frederik Andersen.
The 35-year-old played only four games this season before undergoing knee surgery that will keep him out for two to three months. Pyotr Kochetkov missed four games with a concussion and forced coach Rod Brind’Amour to fall back on third-stringer Spencer Martin and GM Eric Tulsky to sign veteran Dustin Tokarski.
5. Vegas Golden Knights
Adin Hill won a Stanley Cup and will likely be one of the three goalies selected by Canada for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. But the 28-year-old struggled through injuries last season, and the fallback for the Golden Knights is no longer Logan Thompson but Ilya Samsonov.
The prospect of Samsonov playing in the post-season should send chills through the spine of GM Kelly McCrimmon.
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