Many Arizona Coyotes trade rumors have included moving their starting goalie, Karel Vejmelka. While he has been solid, trading him may be best. NHL rumors seem to surround him.
Arizona Coyotes Trade Rumors Include Moving Karel Vejmelka
For a team like the Coyotes who are in the midst of a rebuild, trading your assets for the future is a key ingredient to success. After all, “Veggie” came out of nowhere and look at him now. Some say that is a good reason to keep him, and that is a valid argument.
His stats don’t exactly jump out at you. In the two seasons he has guarded the Yotes net, he has a less than exciting 31-56-9 record. His NHL career .899 save percentage with a 3.55 against average are below par as well.
Yet, Vejmelka has an impressive 16.4 goalie points share which means he contributed 16.4 points to his team’s success due to his play in net. A playoff-level team can certainly be attracted to that.
Which NHL Teams Have Interest in Vejmelka
Per an article by Michael DeRosa of nhltraderumors.me, there are at least two teams who may attempt to obtain the services of Vejmelka. Both the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators may pursue Vejmelka going forward.
Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres who just missed making the playoffs, seem ready to make a move next season. While they have Devon Levi, they seem ready to move on from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. They also had veteran Craig Anderson announce his retirement. They still have Eric Comrie on contract through next season at a $1.8 million deal.
It would be interesting to see if the Sabres would be ready to trade Levi for Vejmelka. The Coyotes want to go younger with their rebuild hoping to climax in a few years. Vejmelka will be 27 years old on May 25th. He is signed through the 2024-25 season at a reasonable rate of $2.725 million AAV.
It seems to make sense that while the Sabres would like to keep and develop Levi, they are now in playoff mode and experimenting with a young goalie will not help them advance to the postseason. Vejmelka has appeared in 103 NHL games and can definitely be a good netminder on a playoff-level team.
Ottawa Senators
The Senators announcing that they will not re-sign Cam Talbot with his $3.67 million contract leaves their net duties up for grabs. This would allow them to pay Vejmelka’s contract with some left over. It must be mentioned that the Sens, who are similar to the Sabres as far as playoff potential goes, would have a great goalie 1A, 1B situation with Forsberg/Vejmelka guarding their net.
Forsberg sustained knee injuries in February, but surgery will not be required and he should be back healthy by the time the season starts again. The Sens finished just six points from a playoff spot and adding Vejmelka would be a plus.
A similar trade senario may exist for a potential trade with the Ottawa club. They have young 22-year-old goalie Mads Sogaard waiting his turn to get a spot on the Senator’s permanent roster. He has an 8-6-3 record with a 3.32 GAA and a .889 SV%. Not spectacular, but still has great potential.
If GM Pierre Dorian wants to compete for a playoff slot, trading a young goalie for a more experienced netminder must be on his list of things to do this offseason.
Going Forward
We still don’t know if the Coyotes were to trade Vejmelka, who would the in-net duo may be. They gave Ivan Prosvetov a shot by playing him instead of Vejmelka or Connor Ingram late in the season. He pretty much failed that test as he went 4-3 with a 3.98 GAA and a .880 SV%. Prosvetov didn’t fare well when he was sent back down to the AHL Tucson Roadrunners. He had a 1-2 playoff record with a horrible .845 SV%, and a really lousy 5.27 GAA. Look for the Coyotes to think hard about re-signing him, as he will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Much will depend on whether the Yotes trade Vejmelka. If that happens, they may be forced to keep Prosvetov as a backup even though he seems unready to step into that role yet.
With that said, even if the Yotes were to obtain Levi or Sogaard, who will be the starter? Connor Ingram is a RFA with his $733,333 deal expiring. Will it be Ingram who gets the nod as a starter for the 2024-25 season? Anything is possible and at this point, it’s a sure bet that general manager Bill Armstrong is weighing the possibilities.
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