Maple Leafs should consider Scott Clemmensen after Penguins land Tomas Vokoun
The Leafs didn’t sign Tomas Vokoun for goaltending insurance. Pittsburgh traded for his rights from Washington and then signed him to be Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup next season. That means Brent Johnson, a UFA on July 1, will be moving on.
It’s the kind of move many believe the Leafs will be making to add some veteran goaltending insurance to their roster. Vokoun, at 35, is not the perfect guy — he was injured, then lost his job in Washington to Braden Holtby — but he was one possibility. The Leafs, in fact, looked at him last summer but were disinclined to offer a two-year contract.
There are quite a few other UFA goalies coming on the market. The best for the Leafs might be Scott Clemmensen, who they’ve had before and played very well for Florida both this year and in the playoffs. Clemmensen is a solid citizen who might be the perfect and very affordable stabilizing element while the Leafs continue to evaluate the progress of Scrivens and James Reimer. A similar choice might be Johan Hedberg of the Devils, although he’s 39 while Clemmensen is 34.
That, of course, is one of the issues at hand if the Leafs were to try and swing a deal for Roberto Luongo. They’d essentially be writing off the futures of Reimer and Scrivens as possible starting goalies because Luongo would take the position for at least the next five years.