Flames goaltender may be fit for Lightning; Calgary wants big return
The Tampa Bay Lightning's chances to have a strong start to the 2023-24 season took a big hit this week when it was announced that Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss at least the next two months after undergoing back surgery.
Lightning General Manager Julien BriseBois has been searching the trade market for immediate help with the team set to open their season in just over one week, October 10th against the Nashville Predators.
Currently, the Lightning's goaltending depth is pretty thin, at least in terms of NHL experience. 28-year-old Jonas Johansson leads the way with 35 games in the National Hockey League, followed by Hugo Alnefelt, who had a single 20-minute appearance with the Lightning back in the 2021-22 season. The Lightning also have 2022 Olympian Matt Tomkins on their roster, who's been one of the top goaltenders in the Swedish Hockey League over the last two seasons.
There are several teams that have a logjam in between the pipes that BriseBois could reach out to including the Calgary Flames. The Flames have three goaltenders capable of playing at the National Hockey League level - Jacob Markstrom, Daniel Vladar and top prospect Dustin Wolf.
Daniel Vladar seems like the perfect fit for the Tampa Bay Lightning and even when Vasilevskiy returns, he would be a great option as a backup. But according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the breaks may need to be pumped a bit on Vladar being dealt to the Lightning.
In his most recent edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman mentions that the Flames don't want to give Vladar to the Lightning for nothing, but Tampa Bay doesn't have much in the way of draft pick capital, thus making a potential deal tough to pull off.
Vladar, 26, had a solid season with the Flames in 2022-23, primarily as the backup to Jacob Markstrom. In 27 games, the Prague native had a record of 14-6-5 with a 2.83 goals against average and an .895 save percentage.
Do you think that Daniel Vladar would be a good temporary replacement for Andrei Vasilevskiy? Let us know what you think in the poll below!
| POLL | ||
Do you think Dan Vladar would be a good temporary replacement for Vasilevskiy? | ||
| Yes | 24 | 70.6 % |
| No, better options out there | 7 | 20.6 % |
| Unsure | 3 | 8.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
