New Jersey and Washington swing a deal for a goalie on day two of the draft
Just when it looked like things couldn't get much worse for the Leafs in the goalie department, yet another goalie trade has gone down, this time involving the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils.
Per the New Jersey Devils' official Twitter account, the team has acquired RFA goaltender Vitek Vanecek from the Caps, along with the 46th pick in the second round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for picks number 37 and 70. The Capitals now pick one spot before the Leafs on Friday.
In the last 24 hours alone, we have now seen Vanecek, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ville Husso, Petr Mrazek and Alexandar Georgiev moved/signed, which does not bode well for the Leafs in their pursuit of a goalie. Especially since Husso's AAV came in just under $5M per season, which should push up the asking price on both Campbell and Kuemper during free agency.
The silver lining is that the Leafs have $10.2M in available cap space with 17 players signed through next season, so they do have some financial flexibility to either shell out big money to Campbell or Kuemper - or they can pursue a deal for a legit starting goaltender already under contract, such as John Gibson.
One thing that this trade might do is open the door for a potential MacKenzie Blackwood trade. The 25-year-old backstop is locked in for one more season at $2.8M and is due to become an RFA next summer, with arbitration rights.
