It appears to be a two-horse race for pending UFA Jack Campbell
With just three days remaining until free agency opens up, the Toronto Maple Leafs are still without a starting goaltender, which is concerning, to say the least. There has been a lot of movement in the goalie market over the past week, with several trades and signings for the likes of Marc-Andre Fleury, Alexandar Georgiev, Vitek Vanecek and Ville Husso, among others. What is left now is a fairly dry market and only two clear cut number one goalies left for teams to bid on, being Jack Campbell and Darcy Kuemper.
Per a recent report out of Washington, the Capitals are expected to push hard to sign Stanley Cup winner Darcy Kuemper when free agency opens on Wednesday, and that deal is believed to be nearly done at this point, with the formality of putting pen to paper as the last step in the process. At the very least, it appears to be on the one yard line, which essentially leaves only Jack Campbell for teams to bid on, which could mean a much higher AAV than anyone is anticipating.
The Oilers and, of course, the Leafs are believed to be the two frontrunners for Campbell, with the Buds having the obvious advantage due to having a few extra days to negotiate a deal before the Oilers will even be able to start the process.
The Leafs are also believed to be exploring the trade market to expand their options, which could mean that they're actually entertaining the idea of allowing Campbell to just walk for nothing - something they've shown that they have no problem doing in the past, what with Zach Hyman, Frederik Andersen, James Van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and others walking away as UFA's.
If the Leafs are not intending to bring back Campbell, I'd imagine that one of Matt Murray or John Gibson will be their primary target. Given the fact that the Sens are willing to both retain salary AND add a sweetener, I'd suggest that Murray is probably the frontrunner for the Leafs at this point, but we'll know more in just a few short days.
| POLL | ||
10 JUILLET | 1527 ANSWERS It appears to be a two-horse race for pending UFA Jack Campbell Where will Jack Campbell end up on Wednesday? | ||
| Edmonton | 737 | 48.3 % |
| Washington | 94 | 6.2 % |
| Toronto (maybe before Wednesday) | 594 | 38.9 % |
| Other | 102 | 6.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
