The Leafs have traded the 30th overall pick (acquired from Pittsburgh in the Phil Kessel trade) and the 2017 second round pick (acquired from San Jose in the Polak deal) to the Anaheim Ducks for RFA goalie Frederik Andersen. The 26 year old goalie posted a .919 SV% and a 2.30 GAA in 43 regular season games this season. They have apparently signed him to a five year contract extension.
Andersen's caphit last season was $1.15M.
Told Leafs have agreed to a five year extension with Andersen as well. He would have been RFA July 1
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) June 20, 2016
Andersen will likely enter next season as the starter according to Lou Lamoriello, making Jonathan Bernier expendable (or, possibly, expansion draft bait).
Lamoriello on Andersen contract: "He has to know that he's our No. 1 goaltender."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 20, 2016
At last year's trade deadline, the team traded James Reimer to the Sharks. They got less in return in that deal than they gave up in this one and, Reimer injury issues aside, I'm not sure if they gained much value, if any. That said, it's fairly hard to judge this trade until we find out the term on Andersen's extension (update below) and what, if anything, they decide to do with Bernier.
That said, this trade attempts to address what is probably their biggest need. Bernier's contract is up at the end of the 2016-17 season and it's uncertain whether Garret Sparks will ever be a starter in the NHL. Here's a look at Andersen and Bernier's 25 game rolling SV% over the past three seasons (via corsica.hockey):
The two were about comparable until last season, where Andersen was much better. Here's a look at just their 2015-16 performance, via Ian Fleming.
With the trade, the Leafs now have 11 picks to make this weekend. Updates to come.
UPDATE:
AAV for Andersen's five-year deal in TOR should be in the low to mid $5M range, that is $5.5M or a little less than that.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 20, 2016
Oy. The "should be" makes is sound like McKenzie is speculating but if his speculation is close to the truth, well...this guy better be worth it. My knee jerk reaction is that I don't like this deal at all. That's a lot of money and term to commit to a guy with less than 150 NHL games played who may end up being just a bit better than league average.
UPDATE:
The final deal comes in at a $5M caphit for the next five years.
Andersen's AAV is $5M on the button. $25M total value for five years.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 20, 2016
$5M is easier to swallow than $5.5M. I'm still wary about that term, though.