Prospective Teams for Antti Niemi
Although the Antti Niemi era in Chicago was short-lived, it was rather successful. After helping the Chicago Blackhawks win their first Stanley Cup in 49 years, Niemi was awarded a contract of $2.75 million by an arbitrator after only earning $800,000 the previous season. The Blackhawks were unable to entertain such a figure due to rigid salary cap constraints and now Niemi is a free agent. Naturally, the demand for a Stanley Cup winning goaltender like Niemi is high and Niemi has quite a lot of potential new homes for next season. Let’s take a look at a few possibilities:
Washington Capitals:
The Capitals currently have Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth signed as their goalkeepers. They said they were more than content to play the season with the young tandem in net, but that was stated before Niemi became available.
Given Alexander Oveckin’s monstrous offensive production and a very stable supporting cast, the Capitals are really only a goalkeeper away from serious Stanley Cup contention. Varlamov and Neuvirth have played a total of 54 regular-season games between the two of them, and Varlamov’s melt down against the Montreal Canadiens saw the No. 1 seed Capitals exit the playoffs in the first round. A goalie like Niemi could be the difference between success and failure for the Capitals, and Washington is desperate for a deep play-off run.
San Jose Sharks:
The Sharks let veteran goalie Evgeni Nabokov slip away into free agency and he is now going to be playing in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). To fill the void, the Sharks have Antero Niittymaki and Thomas Greiss. Although Niittymaki could be a steal given his 2-year, $4 million deal and the fact that he has never been a in net for a team that can protect him like the Sharks, Niemi would be a very welcome insurance policy for a team seeking Lord Stanley’s Cup.
The Sharks have to remember how well Niemi played in the playoffs, as he went absolutely insane and was the clear difference maker in the Blackhawks’ four-game elimination of the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals.
Montreal Canadiens:
The Canadiens rolled through into the Eastern Conference Finals on the back of Jaroslav Halak’s unbelievable performance. When Halak faltered in that series against the Flyers, the Canadiens fell apart like they had been expected to do much earlier.
Now Halak is no longer on the team after being signed by the St. Louis Blues and the Canadiens are left with just Alex Auld under contract as Carey Price continues negotiations on his restricted free agent contract. The 22-year-old Price was to be the Canadiens’ future in net, but has yet to show himself capable of No. 1 duties. Additionally, the 29-year-old is not the most comforting of backups given his shaky career statistics.
The Canadiens do not have a lot of cap room for Niemi, but if Price pushes his contract negotiations a bit too far after underperforming last season, Niemi might be a logical choice for Montreal as a replacement. The fact that the Canadiens traded Halak shows some amount of faith in Price, but the young netminder is on thin ice with his franchise.
Dallas Stars:
The Stars recently parted ways with long-time No. 1 goaltender Marty Turco in favour of trying to develop Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen’s backup is Andrew Raycroft, who has been relatively useless since winning the Calder Trophy with the Boston Bruins in 2003-04. Lehtonen is also unproven and currently on his way to being considered a career NHL bust.
It couldn’t hurt the Stars to bring in Niemi to essentially replace Turco in a tandem with Lehtonen. The two Finnish goaltenders could switch off until one established himself more dominantly, and the overall competition would potentially help both players become better.
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