Mailbag: Murray trade options, Maple Leafs future, Wild goalie plan

Here is the Sept. 9 edition of Dan Rosen's weekly mailbag. If you have a question, tweet it to @drosennhl and use #OvertheBoards.

Where will Matt Murray likely be traded to? And what do you think the price will be? -- @JConz17
There certainly should be options for the Pittsburgh Penguins if they're going to trade goalie Matt Murray. I think the top five destinations, in no particular order, are the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators. Murray can become a restricted free agent after this season.
I think the Penguins would do well if they could get a first-round pick for Murray considering they don't have one in the 2020 NHL Draft or the 2021 NHL Draft, and they've made one first-round pick since 2015. The Penguins are in win-now mode, which is obvious by the fact they continue to trade away first-round picks.
If they are going to trade Murray, it's logical to assume they will want a return that includes a player who can help them immediately. It will be difficult to get that and a first-round pick, so they might be looking more for a top-four defenseman or middle-six forward along with a prospect or a second- or third-round draft pick as the return for Murray.
However, trading Murray and getting a quality return could present a challenge for general manager Jim Rutherford because the NHL free agent market, which will open Oct. 9 at 12 p.m. ET, is expected to be flush with quality goalies, including Robin Lehner (Vegas Golden Knights), Braden Holtby (Washington Capitals) and Jacob Markstrom (Vancouver Canucks). There also could be solid 1B/backup options: Thomas Greiss (New York Islanders), Anton Khudobin (Dallas Stars) and Cam Talbot (Calgary Flames). Teams that could be interested in Murray might first want to test free agency because they wouldn't have to give up assets to get a goalie. With Murray, they'd have to give up assets and sign him to a new contract.
The NHL free agent market traditionally opens at 12 p.m. ET on July 1, but was pushed back this year because of the pause in the 2019-20 season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
I wonder about the Avalanche and the Maple Leafs the most.
The Avalanche have Philipp Grubauer signed through next season and Pavel Francouz through 2021-22. If they view Murray as an upgrade to one or both, they could make the move early to get him and eschew trying to dive into the free agent market. If it was Murray and Grubauer, that likely would be more of a shared net. If it was Murray and Francouz, Murray likely would be the primary starter.
I wonder about Toronto's interest particularly because of general manager Kyle Dubas' connection to Murray from their time together with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League; Dubas was Sault Ste. Marie GM from 2011-14, when Murray was its goalie. Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen is signed for one more season and turns 31 on Oct. 2. He's a tradable commodity. But is there a trade match with the Penguins? Pittsburgh acquired Kasperi Kapanen, a middle-six forward, in a trade with Toronto on Aug. 25, and the Maple Leafs' defensemen are a work in progress, with Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci each able to become an unrestricted free agent. That might stop any trade involving Murray between Toronto and Pittsburgh.

What is next for Kyle Dubas? He built a team on talent rather than chemistry. He is asking for large returns for mediocre players. He has traded Kasperi Kapanen. He has a $73 million cap hit without any qualifying offers. Lost to a Zamboni driver. Last playoff series win was 2004. What's next? -- @theashcity
I mention above the potential for the Maple Leafs to make a change at goalie, but the area of focus for Dubas and the Maple Leafs needs to be at defenseman, especially with Barrie and Ceci potentially leaving in free agency.
Dubas likely is focused on acquiring another top-four right-shot defenseman to play with either Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin or possibly Travis Dermott. It would be ideal for Toronto if that defenseman has some bite to his game, some snarl that makes him difficult to play against. Alex Pietrangelo likely wouldn't be in Toronto's price range, but if Dubas looks deeper into the unrestricted free agent market, there are options with Sami Vatanen, Justin Braun, TJ Brodie and Travis Hamonic. There's also the potential of Dustin Byfuglien, but it's not clear if the former Winnipeg Jets defenseman plans to play again or what it would cost to sign him.
It might be a better bet to see the Maple Leafs look in the trade market, particularly because they could try to move dollar for dollar, or close to it. And if Toronto is interested in Murray, it could use Andersen as part of a trade to upgrade at defenseman. The question again, though, is what would the Maple Leafs have to give up to get Murray?
Otherwise it's very much on Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander, Zach Hyman, Rielly, Muzzin and Dermott to lead the Maple Leafs. This is their team and they have to bear the brunt of the pressure to get it over the hump in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
How do you see the Minnesota Wild's goalie situation playing out? Buying out/trading Devan Dubnyk and going with Kaapo Kahkonen and Alex Stalock? They can expose Stalock to Seattle after the season as well. They also need a center so I'm not sure if drafting Iaroslav Askarov makes sense. -- @GLaSnoST9
There will be changes. The Wild likely will not enter next season with Devan Dubnyk and Alex Stalock as their goalies. Minnesota will be in the market, likely looking at top free agents Holtby, Markstrom and Lehner. I had wondered if Markstrom's performance for the Canucks against the Wild during the Stanley Cup Qualifiers (3-1, .926 save percentage, 2.27 goals-against average) was enough to persuade Minnesota to make a push for the 30-year-old. However, the Canucks and Markstrom
have begun negotiations on a new contract,
so he may not hit the open market. If Markstrom is out of the picture, Holtby or Lehner would be terrific options.
The question with Holtby in particular is contract length. He turns 31 years old on Sept. 16. I wouldn't sign a 31-year-old goalie for more than four years. Lehner, who is 29, could go longer term, perhaps in the five-year or six-year range.
If the Wild are going to sign a top free agent goalie, they'll likely have to buy out the final season of Dubnyk's contract, which carries a $4.33 million NHL salary cap charge. That would give them Stalock as the backup to whoever they sign. Stalock is signed for two more seasons with a $785,000 salary cap charge. It also would give them even more time to develop Kaapo Kahkonen and give them the ability to, as you mentioned in your question, expose Stalock to Seattle in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.
The Wild need a center more than they need a top goalie prospect at this point. It doesn't make sense for them to draft a goalie with the No. 9 pick in the 2020 draft.
If you were Joe Sakic, what would you do during this offseason for the Colorado Avalanche? And in your opinion what are Colorado's main issues to solve in order to be back (at least) to the conference final next season for the first time in 19 years? -- @statslotta
Nathan MacKinnon said he wouldn't change a thing, that he believes the Avalanche would be able to win the Stanley Cup next season if they brought back the same roster. There's merit to what Colorado's No. 1 center and best player said following a 5-4 overtime loss in Game 7 of the second round against the Dallas Stars on Friday, because it's almost impossible to judge the Avalanche based on what they did in the playoffs this year with all the injuries they sustained. They didn't have Grubauer or Francouz for Games 5, 6 and 7 against Dallas. They lost Grubauer in Game 1 and Francouz was injured in Game 5. Erik Johnson, their top shutdown defenseman, was injured in Game 1 and didn't play for the rest of the series. They didn't have forward Gabriel Landeskog, their captain, in Game 7. They also were missing forwards Joonas Donskoi and Matt Calvert. It's a credit to the Avalanche, particularly MacKinnon and No. 3 goalie Michael Hutchinson, that they won Games 5 and 6 to cause Game 7.
But the Avalanche need to take a hard look at their goaltending and determine if they're comfortable enough with Grubauer and Francouz. Each had stretches when he played extremely well in the regular season, but is that a good enough pair to win in the playoffs? I would look there first. I'm not suggesting the Avalanche need a complete overhaul at the position, but Francouz was 1-3 with a 4.54 GAA and an .862 save percentage in four games against the Stars prior to his injury. I would investigate the cost for an upgrade and seriously consider it if the price was right, which is why I mentioned Murray in the same sentence as the Avalanche in my first answer. Francouz is signed for two more seasons, and Grubauer has one season left on his contract. The Avalanche don't have to marry themselves to either one.
I'll toss this one out there: What if Lehner is interested in Colorado? Is Sakic going to say no because he has Grubauer and Francouz? I highly doubt it.

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