Flyers Could Find Backup Goalie on NHL Trade Market

The Philadelphia Flyers are in a position to make the playoffs but are suddenly in desperate need of a reliable backup goaltender. They could (and likely should) turn to the NHL trade market to address that; it’s only fair to the team.

The Cal Petersen experiment quickly came to an unceremonious close, while Felix Sandstrom hasn’t proven anything at the NHL level and has played poorly this year in the AHL.

There’s one problem with trading, though: the Flyers have already stressed that they’re not exploring the NHL trade market just for the sake of making a playoff run. But, if there’s something in it for the Flyers beyond this season, then there could be a trade conversation.

Ideally, the Flyers will not force goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov to play NHL games right away, so they’re left with two options: trade for a goalie with term now or sign a free agent in the summer. For the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume the former, especially given there will be very few worthwhile free agent options this summer.

TSN’s latest “Trade Bait” list has three goaltenders inside of their top-20. Calgary Flames shot-stopper Jacob Markstrom (No. 10) will likely be far too expensive for the Flyers, but Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen (No. 13) might be worth a look with the Habs carrying three goaltenders.

Allen, 33, will have the Flyers covered next year at a $3.85 million cap hit.

San Jose Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (No. 20) could also emerge as a Flyers trade option, despite the fact that he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in July. The NHL trade market isn’t as hot for goalies as it was a few months ago, and the Sharks would be glad to get what they can for Kahkonen.

The Nashville Predators are likely looking to move off of pending UFA Kevin Lankinen as they look to roll with a tandem of the elite Juuse Saros and the up-and-coming Yaroslav Askarov. Lankinen is looking more and more like the odd man out and could find himself on a new team by the end of the week.

Trading for UFAs like Kahkonen and Lankinen is only worthwhile if the Flyers are able to re-sign them after the season.

If not, they’ll be back to square one.

Markstrom and Saros are attracting most of the attention on the NHL trade market at the moment, so now could be the perfect time for the Flyers to strike and buy low on a backup goalie.

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