It looks like some western conference teams have been "kicking the tires" in an apparent interest in acquiring Moose goaltender Ondrej Pavelec.
The Los Angeles Kings, who lost all-star Jonathan Quick to a serious groin injury
that may require surgery, have said to have had an interest in Pavelec but have salary-cap issues that could create a
roadblock.
L.A. has about $US1.5 million in cap space available,
and Pavelec, who was reassigned by the Jets to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose
prior to the regular season, has a cap hit of US$3.9 million in the final year of his current contract.
A possible
solution could involve putting Quick on long-term injured reserve
(which could provide some cap relief) or structuring a possible deal would be one in which the
Jets would retain some of Pavelec’s salary.
The Kings simply didn't claim Pavelec on waivers when the Jets demoted him to the Moose because of Pavelec's US$4.5 million salary in this, his last year under contract with the Jets.
But it's clearly not just his contract that are scaring any suitors away. His numbers ranked somewhere around 60th overall? Not among starting goaltenders mind you, but among all NHL goalies. Jets fans all love Pavy. Well, a lot of Jets fans love Pavy. We all know he has been consistently inconsistent his whole NHL career. But we also all know he can steal games. He did just as much in the last 8-10 games of the 2014-2015 season that launched the Jets into the playoffs. He made some amazing saves against the Ducks in losing effort in four games in the first round sweep to Anaheim.
Could Pavelec help the Kings? Can he help anyone in this point in his career? Tim Thomas did. He came back late in his career to help the Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cups. No Pavelec is no Thomas. Just putting the thought out there that Pavelec isn't totally done in the NHL. Yeah. He probably is. But who knows?
