Detroit Red Wings: Exploring the potential of a Frederik Andersen trade
By Bob Heyrman
Should the Detroit Red Wings consider trading for goaltender Frederik Andersen?
This is a tricky question. The Detroit Red Wings need to address their goaltending situation moving forward. The Jimmy Howard experience in Detroit is all but over. That leaves Jonathan Bernier in goal, with just one-year remaining on his current deal.
There is a much more profound issue down the road for the Red Wings when it comes to their goaltending situation. The organization doesn’t have any young goaltending prospect that is even on the cusp of being NHL ready.
It’s incredible when you think about how significant organizational goaltending depth is to a franchise. If one player doesn’t work out, someone, a team, has invested in, it usually immediately sets the franchise back. The Detroit Red Wings had hope that Petr Mrazek would replace Jimmy Howard and be the starting goaltender for ten years to come. He’s found success elsewhere after somewhat of an ugly breakup.
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Mrazek had been the Red Wings ‘next’ goaltender; now it’s a bleak position for Detroit. As of now, the future seems to be Filip Larsson unless either Victor Brattstrom or Kaden Fulcher emerge over the next few seasons.
All three won’t play into Detroit’s cards during the 2020-21 season, and I expected ’22 would be a stretch.
The pending free agent market is shaping up to be plentiful if the Detroit Red Wings hope to make a splash in goal.
There are a plethora of popular names set to hit the open market, such as Braden Holtby, Robin Lehner, Jacob Markstrom, Thomas Greiss, Cam Talbot, Corey Crawford.
Also, both Penguins netminders are set to become restricted free agents (RFA), and the salary cap stricken organization is not expected to re-sign both.
So that begs the question, should the Detroit Red Wings trade for Frederik Andersen, or examine the free-agent market looking for a batterymate that shares the net with Bernier?
The short answer; head to the free-agent market.
Now here are a few reasons why.
It appears the Toronto Maple Leafs are prepared to move on from Frederik Andersen after yet another first-round exit. Well, this time, it was actually an exit before the first round, but the league is still calling that qualifying round as a playoff round, but in reality, the Leafs failed to reach the playoffs.
The lack of Leafs’ success shouldn’t be directed towards Andersen, but during that qualifying round against the Columbus Blue Jackets, his play reminded me of Curtis Joseph during his Red Wings stint.
Joseph wasn’t bad; he just failed to make one more save when the Red Wings needed it most. That was how I’d describe Andersen’s 2020 bubble play. Andersen is entering the final year of his contract that carries a very affordable $5 million cap hit.
Like many of the goaltenders that are about to hit the market, Andersen will be on the wrong side of 30-years old when he’s due to sign his next deal. Also, unlike simply paying a free agent cold hard cash, the Red Wings would be forced to either give up draft capital and prospects or a promising young player to acquire Andersen.
At this point, Freddy’s best suited to land with an organization that is expected to be a playoff team in need of a goaltender on a one-year rental type deal. The few teams that come to mind are the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, and maybe even the Chicago Blackhawks or San Jose Sharks.
Andersen also does have some control of where he can be traded as he has a modified no-trade clause attached to his current deal. Andersen has a ten-team no-trade list, which could rule out a bad team like Detroit from acquiring his services.
In 2019-20, Andersen played through 52 games where he had a 29-13-7 record with a .909 save percentage, 3.03 goals-against average. He has been the Maple Leafs workhorse the past four seasons where he received Vezina votes in each of the last two seasons.
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The Detroit Red Wings need to solve their future goaltending issues and trading for Frederik Anderson from the Toronto Maple Leafs might be a solution to explore.