Markstrom is under contract with the Flames for the next two seasons and carries a full no-movement clause that would give him the final say in any move.
Markstrom is under contract with the Flames for the next two seasons and carries a full no-movement clause that would give him the final say in any move.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the many teams seeking to find a substantial upgrade in the crease ahead of the 2024-25 season – the question is who?
One name that has continued to circulate is Calgary Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom. As a veteran netminder, the Sweden native has two years remaining on his current deal with a $6 million cap hit and a full no-movement clause – though this hasn’t stopped teams from trying to acquire him. On the latest edition of 32 Thought’s: The Podcast, NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman linked the Leafs as a team to be on the lookout for in connection to Markstrom with general manager Brad Treliving being a leading factor.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN_OkDZB_b8[/embed]
“A couple of other teams I wonder about there, too, anybody looking for a goalie, but a couple of teams I wonder about: Toronto, and I know deals with Toronto and Calgary are kind of complicated, but the GM in Toronto is the guy who signed Markstrom in Calgary and, just on paper, a Markstrom-[Joseph] Woll combination is a pretty good combination. I look at that and I say, ‘I could see why a team like Toronto would be interested in that, potentially.’”
Circling back to Markstrom’s contract, it was a six-year $36 million contract that was signed by Treliving back in October of 2020. Since taking over in Toronto, it’s been difficult to get a deal done with Calgary, for example, Chris Tanev, who the team had interest in at this year’s trade deadline.
Is a deal for Markstrom a viable option?
When dissecting the Leafs’ situation, they have a couple of options they could opt to take whether it be a trade to acquire a starting caliber netminder to be paired with Joseph Woll, committing a considerable sum of the cap to goaltending, or, they could go for a proven, cheaper, ‘1b’ goaltender and spread out their money elsewhere and pivot at next year’s trade deadline if needed.
In the case of Markstrom, he can be viewed as a goaltender in the ‘legitimate starter’ category when he’s at his best, to be paired with Woll at a cap hit of $6 million a season until the end of 2025-26. Coming off two of his low-point seasons in a Flames uniform, at 34 years of age, this is where things start to get tricky.
In the most recent 2023-24 season, he netted a 23-23-2 record paired with a 2.78 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. A season before that, in 2022-23, he had a 23-21-12 record along with a 2.92 goals against average and .892 save percentage. Markstrom has only won more than 30 games once in his NHL tenure, playing in a career-high 63 games in 2021-22 posting an impressive 37-15-9 record with a 2.22 goals against average and .922 save percentage.
If Treliving traded for his former starter in Calgary, the Leafs would have to be wary of the risk involved in tying themselves down to a soon-to-be 35-year-old trending in a downward direction. From a salary cap perspective, it would still be feasible to obtain his services but it could hinder their options to bring back pending free agents they are interested in, unless they of course clear cap space otherwise.
All this to say, a Markstrom-Woll tandem on paper seems like an acceptable combination. Given the return for a Markstrom deal is somewhat unclear and with other teams in the mix, the Leafs do have other valued options to their avail that could work via free agency or trade. Some names include Jussi Saros, Laurent Brossoit, Anthony Stolarz, and Filip Gustavsson, or the club could orchestrate a return to bring back Martin Jones.
If brought to the Leafs, a team that needs a reliable goaltender for more than a single season, Markstrom is posed as a valid option if the price is right in terms of assets and salary, however, the Leafs’ management shouldn’t be so quick to jump the gun on this one.
Related
News from THN.com
Opinion: Is Joe Pavelski a Hockey Hall of Famer? Sorry, But No
Five of the Most Surprising 50-Goal Seasons in NHL History
The Florida Panthers Face a Busy Off-Season Following the Stanley Cup Final