IvanMalison
Registered User
Samsonov sucks. He managed to play a decent 6 games but I think you’re forgetting how about wildly inconsistent he was in the regular season.
Signing Holtby achieves nothing. He also was wildly inconsistent and downright bad at times for Dallas.
Kuemper is the best goalie avaivable and costs zero assets. Who cares if he isnt ”on his game” 5 years from now, we are likely tanking by then anyways. And theres always ltir/trade/retire, anything can happen between now and then.
What puzzles me is that Sammy is far from ideal backup goalie. Keeping him to sit on the bench and play 23 games a season doesnt feel like its ”the right direction” with him. He is someone who needs to be tested all the way if he can achieve his potential, and if we bring a 60 game starter i dont see how we can give him the chance. Its a different story if we even should be ”handing out chances”, but Vanecek would have been better fit for backup role.
But yeah, if Kuemper is avaivable for us you sign him and solve puzzles later.
Just because Samsonov is not a great option doesn't mean that signing Kuemper for 6 million IS. The reality is that the Goaltender market is really hot this offseason, which coupled with the fact that there really aren't that many great options available means that there may not be any good deals available.
Samsonov wasn't great this past season, but he is still really young. 6 million is a TON of cap space, and I really think its just much better spent elsewhere in the roster than it is on a Goalie who, despite winning the cup, just had a pretty horrible playoff run.
The caps don't have a shot at a deep run unless they a) significantly upgrade the skaters, b) have some of their younger players (McMicheal, Samsonov) really step up. 6 million is enough cap space to get someone pretty good at 2c to fill in for Backstrom. That is where we should be spending.