Casey DeSmith is the Ottawa Senators best goalie option for 2023-24
If the Ottawa Senators wish to upgrade the goalie position, Casey DeSmith is their best bet
I know I will catch heat for this post, similar to when I brought up this topic on Twitter a number of times. I have thought about this particular topic a lot over the last few months and have come to the conclusion that acquiring Casey DeSmith is the best option for the Senators going into next season.
Where they stand currently
The Ottawa Senators organisation currently has three goalies signed for next season. They are Anton Forsberg, Mads Sogaard, and Leevi Merilainen, all of whom have seen the inside of an NHL rink this past season.
Additionally, Kevin Mandolese and Dylan Ferguson are restricted free agents who will both presumably be brought back next year. Cam Talbot is a UFA who will not be back in Ottawa next year after contract negotiations went nowhere. Antoine Bibeau is also a UFA and little is known whether he will be brought back. He played in Belleville this year and put up middling stats there.
That leaves the Senators with exactly one proven NHL goalie on the roster. Although he struggled with injuries and didn’t put up the best stats on paper, Forsberg is a bona fide NHL goalie and will be the backbone of the team’s goaltending next season.
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If the Senators do not make a move to upgrade the goaltending position, they will be left with a Forsberg/Sogaard tandem.
Sogaard’s season
Mads Sogaard is far and away the best young goalie in the Senators organisation. He showed glimpses of a very promising future in the 19 games he played in Ottawa this year. In his NHL stint he earned a record of 8-6-3, with a 3.32 GAA and .889%.
Of the 16 games in which he was in net the entire game, Sogaard put up a better than .915% in eight of them, or exactly half. So there was definitely a lot of positives about his 2022-23 season. It would be reckless, though, to thrust him into a position where he’s the last line of defence for ~30 games next year.
Also, that leaves the Sens one injury away from disaster, which we know all too well from this season.
The way forward
It’s clear to anyone who follows the Senators that there needs to be more depth in the goalie position, ideally. However, the team will be pressed hard against the cap next year and the options just about dry up after that happens.
Going after a big-name free agent like Tristan Jarry is simply not an option, due to the aforementioned cap issues. That’s why a goalie like Casey DeSmith could be a good option as a stop-gap until Sogaard grows into an NHL goalie.
Casey DeSmith is an undrafted goalie who has played his entire professional career in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. He has been an extremely dependable backup through the first five years of his NHL career.
In 134 career NHL games, he has a .912% and 2.81 GAA with a record of 58-44-15. He’s in the final year of a two-year $3.6 million contract he signed with the Penguins. His contract carries an AAV of $1.8 million.
This year, he struggled a bit as he was thrust into the starter’s crease putting up only a .905% in 38 games played.
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Using the goals saved above expected per game stat, DeSmith ranked 24th league-wide in 2018-19, 14th in 2020-21, 33rd in 2021-22, and finally 29th among 69 goalies this past season. He didn’t play in the NHL during the 2019-20 season.
Normally, he can be depended on to play 25-30 games and put up roughly 2.60 and .915% numbers. Considering how hard-pressed the Senators will be this offseason to find quality goaltending, this is their best option.
How to get him
The Penguins missed the playoffs this year for the first time in a decade and a half. They fired their entire front office and will be making huge changes throughout the organization. The only players that are untouchable are Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
They will likely try to change up their goaltending position and DeSmith could easily be out the door. The cost to acquire him will likely be only a late draft pick.