Current Goalie Situation for the Capitals
With Braden Holtby struggling, and now being listed as a day-to-day injury who is the Washington Capitals number one goalie going into the playoffs? Right now the answer is Philipp Grubauer.
The German born goalie has played phenomenal hockey with two shutouts and a save percentage of 92%. After stopping 39 shots for a shutout against the Detroit Redwings Grubauer is looking like the number one goalie going into the playoffs.
The biggest question with the goalie situation is what do with Braden Holtby? He currently has three years left in his contract and is expected to make $7 million dollars this year, and $5 million for the next two. Grubauer is going to be a free agent next season, so would the Capitals try and trade Holtby and re-sign Grubauer?
Another factor to throw in is the reports of the 2015 first round pick Ilya Samsonov is coming to North America. Samsonov is listed as the worlds top goalie prospect and been dominating the KHL for Metallurg Magnitogorsk. So far this year he appeared in 26 games and had a 2.5 goals against and a 92% save percentage.
Would the Capitals free up cap space and let Holtby go this season to keep Grubauer and slowly bring in Samsonov, or will Grubauer get a big pay day from another team for a Holtby/Samsonov duo next season? Hopefully it will be the Caps year, and Holtby gets his mojo back, but for now it’s Grubauer time
