Murray has kept his head above water the last 2 years.
Korpi has about 30 good games in his career - but he embarrassed the Leafs in 4 of them so he is perpetually overrated

How can you look at his play for LA during the playoffs and think this is a good idea?

Dorion sweats desperation.

He's a bad backup because he plays 20-35 games a year. Basic stats are nice, but that's not what you look at.

Seriously? That's a lot of money and term, considering what type of player he's been recently.

Awful signing. They might get bailed out by the rising cap. He has never proven to be anything more than a #2 goalie. I wouldn't even mind paying him more over a shorter term, but 5 years is a very long time. The cap hit itself does not bother me. He's proven to be a #2 goalie. They usually make somewhere in the 3M-4M range. It's the term that is the issue.

This is the same mistake Dorion made with Murray in relation to term.

For anybody who didn't like the Adin Hill signing, consider the possible alternatives for Vegas. There weren't any real proven starting goalies on the market. The alternative wouldn't look great either, at least with Hill they kept some continuity in their room and he looked great in the playoffs.

The only positive about this signing is that the Senators at least have the right idea about how teams need two goalies who can both split games. Outside of having a franchise goaltender, of which there are only a handful at any time, teams usually do better with two goalies who can competently play 30-40+ games if needed rather than one starting playing 60-70. Sogaard's waiver exemption expires the same year that Forsberg's contract expires. I suspect the plan is to walk away from Forsberg in 1-2 years (either via trade, free agency, or worst case scenario buyout) and move Sogaard up to that spot. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Senators extend Sogaard to a 3 year contract, where year 3 is a 1-way deal. They have done similar things in the past with goalies like Gustavsson and Daccord. At the very least, I think they are going to want to cost control Sogaard to avoid a situation where Sogaard breaks out before Forsberg is off the books.

So what I suspect we'll see...

Korpisalo = 5 years.
Forsberg = 2 years
Sogaard = 2 year 2-way then takes over from Forsberg, then gets a 2 year bridge deal and a big money deal after Korpisalo is off the books.
Merilainen = Similar path to Sogaard, subs in as the #2 when Korpisalo leaves.

(Nothing ever works out as planned with goalies, but I suspect that is what they are looking at)

Dorion move, throw **** at the wall and see what sticks, he has no plan,

Ouch, they could have just kept Murray and they would have been better off

Can you explain how a backup putting up .916 is bad?

25 game goalie, its a start, regardless of immediate good/bad. now u need 2 to 3 other goalies. Who else?

It's not terrible but he's being paid like a decent start when he's not.

Not bad when you're looking at 1 year, but that's definitely not worth signing him to this contract. Prior to last year, he wasn't great. There's way to much risk here.

Steve Staios is gonna have to mop this one up by next summer... now it's time for the DeBrincat trade 🤮

I would rather they sign him to 6M x 2 than 4M x 5.

There is upside to the contract, but it also comes with risk. When you look at all these Dorion moves, you have to look at them through the lens that his job has been on the line for the last 2 seasons. Same deal with acquiring Debrincat when he likely knew re-signing him was not possible due to the cap. If Korpisalo is not a starter and he thinks, the last 3 years of this deal are another GMs problem, not his. If the Senators hit a lull 2-3 years from now because of the picks they bled adding Debrincat and Chychrun, again, that's Daniel Alfredsson or Patrick Roy's problem, not Pierre Dorion's.

Dorion's mentor Bryan Murray always said, if you don't have goaltending, you have nothing. The mentality he is likely coming from is that his pro-scouts liked Korpisalo dating back to the trade deadline, and the team needs a better tandem than Forsberg/Sogaard. It's a shame that the Senators didn't make the move to acquire Korpisalo, because with the injuries to Talbot, that might have been enough to launch them into the playoffs.

gonna cost sens a 1st ++ for staios to move that contract....

Unlike most people here I like it. He was trending to be a solid starter before he needed double hip surgery. He's finally healthy and showed what he can be now that he got his hips fixed. Sogaard is 2-3y ears away anyway not knocking on the door. Lots of low hanging takes here

He looked good in LA during the regular season, but so many goalies have looked good in LA over the years, gone elsewhere, and stunk.

Korpisalo is at worst a 2.5-3.5 million dollar luxury backup/1B type. The primary issue is that 5 years is an incredibly length to give to get this kind of goalie. It would not surprise me if other teams didn't match that term, and that is what got the deal done.

It is a shame that Ottawa didn't push harder to acquire him at the deadline before giving him this kind of term. They would have been able to test drive him. Holding his rights and preventing him from hitting the open market also might have gotten them a more favourable contract, especially if he was already comfortable in Ottawa. I would guess that Ottawa using so many draft picks in trades, and also probably needing to find a home for Talbot (to get money off the books) might have been the reason they didn't pull the trigger.

The best thing I can say about it is that if he can be serviceable for 2-3 years, 4mil won't be nearly as significant to dump.

Sogaard doesn't factor into this contract at all. If Sogaard factors in, that's a good problem to have, because that means he has broken out as a star.

Sogaard is waiver exempt for two more seasons. Exactly the time when Forsberg is off the books. It would not surprise me to see the Senators sign Sogaard to either a 2 year 2-way extension, or a 3 year extension with the first years as a 2-way and the last year as a 1-way. They need cost certainty with Sogaard to protect against him breaking out and complicating things.

If Sogaard signs a 2-3 year deal, Forsberg's roster spot and cap hit is off the books before Sogaard's waiver status and argument for a larger contract becomes relevant. If Sogaard ends up as a #1 NHL goalie, they can likely then bridge him for 2 years until Korpisalo's contract expires (if he isn't bought out by then).

There is a distant chance that they try to capitalize on the weak free agent market for goalies by moving Forsberg now and getting out of his contract. Even if they do that, I do not think Sogaard will be penciled in as the backup. They will find a stop gap veteran on a 1-2 year deal at less money than Forsberg in order to give Sogaard competition. Sogaard is not ready yet. He needs to win his spot, not be handed it. This would surprise me though, unless they are concerned about how Forsberg will bounce back from the knee injuries. The reason it would surprise me is that I think they are going to want a competent 1B type to play 30+ games with Korpisalo as an unproven starter.

Ottawa trades Murray and Filip Gustavsson and go for a veteran goalie…

Great now we should not need a goalie for a while! It’s not like old goaltenders get hurt or anything…

Proceeds to have some of the worst goaltending in the league…

QUICK OVERPAY A GOALIE WHO HAS ONLY WON 1 PLAYOFF ROUND AND IS INCREDIBLY INCONSISTENT!! Heck he hasn’t even played a full season healthy what’s the worry??!! It’s not like he will turn into Matt Murray 2.0!

A CAREER GAA OVER 3 IS EXACTLY WHAT WILL PUSH US TO THE PLAYOFFS!!

What’s that?
DeBrincat still isn’t signed…
****.

If he is an overpaid veteran backup, they should be able to trade him with some retention once his term is down to 1-2 years. People underestimate what a veteran goalie costs. The AAV for this contract really isn't that bad. 4M minimum wage starting goalie money. As of now, he is somewhere in the bottom third of cap hits for starting goalies. In 2-3 years as the cap goes up and as more teams adopt a 1A/1B type model, he's probably not even in the top 32 paid goalies.

The issue for me isn't "what if he is only a backup", it's more, "what if he isn't even an NHL goalie". Things move fast, and goalies who are not very old and who comfortably had an NHL job a few years ago are now out of the league. If the Senators have to retain 1-2 million to get someone to take him in 3 years, and they are a cap team under new ownership, that won't be a huge deal under a 90M+ cap. But if they have to eat the entire contract for him not to play, or buy him out and deal with 4-6 years of dead cap, that is a pretty bad result compared to 2-3 years of 1M-2M of dead cap.

This trade also points to a Debrincat trade being close to finished.

The Senators now have about 10 million to fill 7 roster spots. That includes paying Debrincat at least 7.65M, and signing Pinto who based on comparable contracts should cost around 2M on a 2 year type term.

The only redundant player who they could move to clear cap would be Forsberg. I don't know if there would be a market for him. That still would not give them enough to fill out the roster, let alone make some of the additions to the bottom 6 that are rumored.

My guess would be Debrincat to either Detroit or the Islanders with a young big name prospect who is probably a bust coming back as part of the package (Wahlstrom, Zadina, etc) to fill a roster spot. Then they sign Josh Bailey as he has history with both coaches.

Although, I would love some sort of Debrincat for Tom Wilson type trade because the chaos of it would be phenomenal.

I think they'll stick with Forsberg. 6.75 is reasonable for your goalie tandem. But I agree they'll be keeping Sogaard down either way. They even reported Dorion want the B Sens to compete this year for their players development. To me that means Sogaard the the guy down there. Having him learn to win and be the guy in the AHL is the right way to go

The only reason the move Forsberg is if the cap is a major issue and/or they are afraid of how he will play after recovering from his injuries. This might be the only chance they have to move him in that scenario, because this is a very weak goalie market. If they do move him, I see them signing someone else as the incumbent backup for Sogaard to have to beat out by the end of the season.

I think for those reasons is why he may not be moved. The uncertainty of his injury applies to all teams. I think sens might be stuck with him. But honestly i'm ok with it. I think he's a capable 30/35 game starter

It is an overpay and it is not a good signing.

But you know what?

Sometimes, it has to be done when nobody wants to sign with you.



At least we are not spending any assets to acquire him.

Like we did with Matt Murray.

Not a good Contract for Term 5 years is to long but not a horrible signing. Korpo has 55 bad games in 3 years during covid when he had hip surgery and lost the starter role to Elvis. So his run of sub .910 was during a pandemic when he had major surgery playing on a **** team picking up mostly 2nd half of back to backs and expected losses. His poorer playoffs this year was on a decent team against McDavid and Drisital who light everyone up.

In a tandem role he should do fine. This is 1 year longer then I would have hoped for maybe 2 but it is exactly what I expected he would make on a free agent Day. its 4 mil so its not hugely impactful and with 4 forwards left to sign hopefully they can land Burttuzi make a collection for Debrincat including a couple solid bottom six and some prospects and see where we stand.