In trading Markstrom, the Flames lost a valuable piece. Markstrom played a ton of games for the Flames over the years. With him gone, that load with now shift to the likes of Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar. However, neither goaltender has played starting minutes before, or even close to it. Vladar has played 23, 27, and 20 games in the past three seasons. Wolf played the final game of the 2022-23 season and 17 games in 2023-24.
The NHL has transitioned to requiring three goalies in case of injury or poor performance. We saw this in Toronto (Woll, Samsonov, Jones) and Detroit (Husso, Lyon, Reimer) as two examples. Ilya Samsonov’s performance dipped, so he was sent to the AHL to find his game, and Jones filled the position in the meantime. Detroit’s crease was riddled with injury troubles, and Alex Lyon, brought in to be the third goalie, played 44 games with the Red Wings, the most of any Detroit goalie by a wide margin.
I don’t expect the Flames to sign Samsonov or Kaapo Kahkonen, as they figure as 1B options and will likely want to sign somewhere with more opportunity. Similarly, I don’t expect the likes of Anthony Storlarz, Laurent Brossiot, Casey DeSmith, Cam Talbot, Kevin Lankinen, Antti Raanta, or Scott Wedgewood to be options, given they will want a guaranteed backup spot.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at some third string goalie options.
Pheonix Copley
Copley was resurgent in 2022-23 when he started 37 games for the Kings, putting up a crazy 24-6-3 record. He was a major factor in the Kings even making the 2022-23 playoffs. In 2023-24 however, Copley struggled out of the gate and only saw 8 games with the Kings before sustaining an injury. Copley had successful ACL surgery in early January.
Martin Jones
As mentioned previously, Jones split time between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Marlies as the third string goalie. He was solid when called upon. The former Calgary Hitmen netminder has 466 career starts, but has seen a decreased amount of starts year-over-year. If the Flames want to give their goalies real competition in training camp, Jones feels like the guy. He has plenty of experience.
Eric Comrie
Comrie split the 2023-24 season between the Buffalo Sabres and their AHL affiliate Rochester Americans. The Sabres gave the majority of starts to youngsters Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi, so Comrie didn’t see a ton of action. The Edmonton product has 57 career starts in the NHL. His best season occurred in 2021-22, where he played in 20 games with the Winnipeg Jets and had a 0.920 SV%. His numbers haven’t translated in the past two years with the Sabres, however.
Ivan Prosvetov
The 25 year old netminder spent last season with the Colorado Avalanche and their AHL affiliate Colorado Eagles. He was claimed off waivers from the Arizona Coyotes by the Avalanche at the beginning of the season. After playing 11 games with the Avs, Prosvetov was placed on waivers in February, but was not claimed. he had some really good numbers in the AHL after clearing waivers. But, his numbers in his 24 NHL starts are not pretty. This is the youngest option among those listed, so maybe it makes sense for the Flames to take a chance and see if he has any potential left.
Chris Driedger
Another former Calgary Hitmen goaltender, Driedger spent the 2023-24 season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken. Driedger had spent the previous three seasons as a backup (and a really good one) with the Florida Panthers and then the Seattle Kraken. Unfortunately for Driedger, he suffered an ACL injury in 2022 and hasn’t been the same since. However, he was rehabbed well and produced fantastic numbers with the Firebirds.
Currently, Driedger is playing in the AHL Finals with Coachella Valley. One of Driedger’s two starts with the Kraken last season came against the Flames, where he made 37 saves on way to a 2-1 Kraken win. That was his first NHL start in a year and a half because of the aforementioned ACL injury. Driedger will likely find an NHL backup spot due to his incredible AHL run, but he would be a great target to push Vladar and Wolf in training camp.
Photo via NHL.com
