Today the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired goalie Tomas Vokoun from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 7th round draft pick in this year’s upcoming draft. Vokoun, 35 and an unrestricted free agent come July 1st then went on to sign a two year deal with the team worth $2 million per season effectively ending the Penguin career of Brent Johnson.
Vokoun, who had spent the majority of his NHL career with both the Nashville Predators and the Florida Panthers had signed a one year deal to play with the Capitals last season. Vokoun has a career record of 287-284-78, along with a 2.55 goals-against average, .917 save percentage and 48 shutouts in 680 games. With the emergence of Braden Holtby for the Caps during this year’s playoffs and solid play from Michael Neuvirth, there was really no reason for the Caps to bring back Vokoun who posted a 25-17-2 record, 2.51 goals-against average, .917 save percentage and four shutouts in 48 games including a 1 – 0 shutout of the Pens in early January.
Vokoun should bring some stability to the back up goalie position that has seen the likes of Ty Conklin, Mathieu Garon and Brent Johnson over the last four years.
brent johnson is way better screw Vokoun he sucks shit
Finnally some pressure will be taken off fleury
Shero has also said that he will make no effort to re-sign Theissen. After watching Theissen and his slow as molasses reflexes, I believe that is the correct move. Having an older, very experienced goaltender can do nothing but help Fleury. Vokoun will provide the guidance he needs. Great move.
There won’t be any cap space left for Staal
This deal will not impact the Staal negotiations at all. The person that this will most likely impact will be someone like Steve Sullivan. I can totally see the Penguins not bringing him back and finally giving Eric Tangradi some time on the top 6. The only way Sullivan comes back now will be if the cap increases by at least as much as the Vokoun deal cost them. Offense was never a problem for the Penguins, but having a reliable back up for MAF became a top priority after the meltdown in the playoffs. Shero finally realized that he could no longer go the cheap route for the back up goalie. The other thing that this trade will impact will be the number of games MAF plays. Pretty sure he won’t be playing 67 or even 60 games next season and will hopefully be a lot more rested come playoff time.
I don’t like it, $2 Million?? So now if Staal won’t take less we have to deal him, so we can get a career .500 back-up that had I believe it was a knee injury/problem.
Ray should be dumping other Salaries like Martin and Kennedy.
How exactly do you suggest that Shero dump Martin? It takes two teams to make a trade, and with so many teams being right at or even above the cap, no one is going to take on a $5 million/year salary without asking you to take on some salary back from their team. Also, no one except, Ray, Martin, Martin’s agent and possibly his wife know exactly what the No Trade Clause in his contract is. This isn’t the old NHL where you could just trade players with bloated contracts for prospects or draft picks. The only way Martin gets traded(And again, that’s assuming he even can be traded) is if he is part of a package deal along with someone like Staal or Malkin.
Well if he won’t accept a trade, there are some teams that have cap room ( cap could go as high as 70 million )..Use the Wade Redden experience
The Wade Redden experience only works if your owner is willing to continue to pay him his full salary plus that of his replacement
While I like the pick up I’m wondering what’s up with BJ. His performance last season was so atypical I have been wondering what the underlying causes were.