Is Now the Time to Trade Craig Anderson?

With Robin Lehner locked up for the next three years, Craig Anderson is in a tough spot. He’s going to have to prove he’s still capable of being a top goaltender, because the starting job is his to lose.

Does it make sense to trade Anderson? If Lehner can hande playing 50+ games this season, then yes. He’ll have to be resigned at the end of the season, along with Clarke MacArthur, Marc Methot, and Bobby Ryan. Management is in for a serious headache if they plan on resigning all of them in the span of one week. Trading Anderson will save them some potential trouble a year from now.

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But this can only happen if Lehner is ready to play the better part of a full season. Another issue would be finding a second goalie for the team. I don’t think Nathan Lawson or Andrew Hammond are ready to make the jump from Binghamton, so chances are a trade would have to be made. Swapping goalies wouldn’t do much to help the team, so two trades would be a better idea. Anderson could be traded for picks, or packaged with Colin Greening/Erik Condra for a roster player (defenceman please), or traded on his own for draft picks. The next step would be to find a team with too many goaltenders. A good example are the Vancouver Canucks. Ryan Miller and Eddie Lack will be taking the NHL spots, leaving Jacob Markstrom in the AHL. While the Canucks already have solid defense, I’m sure someone Patrick Wiercioch could be the main piece in getting Markstrom to Ottawa. That would give the Senators a very young (yet promising) duo, with Markstrom being the oldest at only twenty-four years old.

While Markstrom only has 47 games under his belt, I feel like he could have a positive impact on the team right away. And of course, if he were to play well, the Senators would have a very strong goaltending duo for the foreseeable future.