Best landing spots for NHL’s top offseason goalie targets: Hellebuyck, Bobrovsky and more

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky looks on in the first period during a NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Florida Panthers.

If Sergei Bobrovsky hits the open market, the Sharks are the perfect fit. Chris Arjoon / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

By Jesse GrangerJune 25, 2026 6:00 am EDT Updated

After an NHL season with the lowest average save percentage in more than three decades, quality goaltending has never felt more valuable, or more difficult to find. As free agents prepare to hit the market on Wednesday, and trade rumors swirl around some of the biggest names in the crease, the sprint to secure an answer in goal is about to begin.

There are quite a few interesting options this summer, especially compared to last year’s barren goalie landscape that was headlined by veteran backups. There are unrestricted free agents with strong starting resumes, young prospects approaching the end of their waiver-exempt status that could be on the move and even goalies with the Vezina Trophy and the Stanley Cup already to their name that might swap teams.

Some fits are obvious. Others require a bit more imagination. Here are the landing spots that make the most sense (or in some cases, are the most fun) for the top goalies on the market, starting with the biggest name that could potentially be on the move.

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Connor Hellebuyck

Best landing spot: Buffalo Sabres

If the Jets are actually considering trading the three-time Vezina Trophy winner, nearly every team with the necessary cap room should be interested. Hellebuyck is on the short list of NHL players capable of changing the landscape of a division or a conference.

The best fit could be in Buffalo, where the Sabres have a well-stocked prospect pool to entice Winnipeg — including the No. 4 pick in Friday’s draft that they just acquired from Chicago — and the cap space to make a blockbuster deal work.

Adding an elite goalie behind a supremely talented blue line and a group of forwards who can score with anyone would make the Sabres the team to beat in a stacked Atlantic Division. It would be a gamble, for sure. Hellebuyck is 33 and coming off statistically the worst season of his career, which included arthroscopic knee surgery in November. He’s also arguably the best goalie in the world, and showed it as recently as February when he stood on his head to win the United States an Olympic gold medal.

This season’s numbers weren’t as pristine as we’ve grown to expect from Hellebuyck, who has been the model for consistency over the last nine years. It could be a sign that the decline has started, but it could also be a blip on the radar at a position with a lot of statistical variance from year to year. After six consecutive seasons of excellence, Hellebuyck was due for a downward spike, and Winnipeg’s struggles as a team played a factor.

Considering his style of play, which relies more on his elite processing speeds and play reading than it does pure athleticism, Hellebuyck could still have several seasons of elite goaltending left. The five years remaining on his contract provide some level of risk, but his $8.5 million cap hit is a value for a goalie of this caliber.

The Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs and really any team close to contention without a star in the crease should be interested and would be a good fit. However, Buffalo is the most tantalizing landing spot for Hellebuyck. The Sabres just won the Atlantic, and had the third-highest team save percentage in the NHL with Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net. Hellebuyck could be the piece to put them over the top.

He has already joined Dominik Hašek as the only goalies in NHL history with a Hart Trophy and at least three Vezina Trophies. If he were to accomplish what even Hašek couldn’t — lead the Sabres to the Stanley Cup — it would further cement his legacy among the all-time greats.

Sergei Bobrovsky

Best landing spot: San Jose Sharks

The best case for both Bobrovsky and the Panthers is to find a way to keep the likely future Hall of Famer in South Beach for another run at a third Cup championship. However, if the 37-year-old hits the open market, the Sharks are the perfect fit.

At this stage of his career, Bobrovsky shouldn’t be relied upon as a true workhorse starter. His starts have declined in each of the last three seasons, down to 51 this past year, and even that might be a bit higher than optimal. In 2022-23, Bobrovsky made only 49 starts — his fewest in a full season in a decade — and it’s no coincidence that was the strongest postseason run of his career.

After a disappointing 2025-26 season, and at his age, there’s plenty of reason for concern regarding Bobrovsky’s next deal, especially for a team pressed as tightly to the salary cap as Florida. To pay him what he probably deserves would likely mean having to give him the lion’s share of the starts, which isn’t optimizing Bobrovsky’s talent at this point.

Insert the Sharks, who have $50 million in cap space, and a talented young goalie with a meager $2 million cap hit. Yaroslav Askarov’s first full NHL season was a bit of a roller coaster, but he showed flashes of star potential. A tandem would allow Bobrovsky to stay fresh for what a blossoming San Jose team hopes to be its first playoff run in seven years, and the Sharks could use their exorbitant cap space to overpay the veteran in an attempt to keep the deal shorter.

Bobrovsky could help a talented young team take the next step toward becoming a real playoff threat. Even if he didn’t, he could be worth the price just for the impact he would have on Askarov alone. The 24-year-old is arguably the most physically gifted goalie in the sport, but still has a lot to learn. Watching a Russian legend such as Bobrovsky and how he works and prepares on a daily basis could do wonders for Askarov’s development and understanding of what it takes to be the best.

Stuart Skinner

Best landing spot: Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes aren’t quite the “Moneyball” Oakland Athletics, but they’re arguably the best in the NHL at extracting value, so this is right in their wheelhouse. Largely due to his high-profile benchings during the playoffs, Skinner’s perceived value around the league seems far lower than his resume suggests.

Skinner is only 27, has started roughly 50 games for four straight regular seasons, and has more than 50 playoff starts under his belt, including two runs to the Cup Final. Last season, after being traded to Pittsburgh, Skinner saved 5.35 goals above expected in 27 starts. He’s not the game-changing level of goaltender as the first two on this list, but he’s proven to be a reliable starter who can thrive behind structure.

That’s where Carolina comes in. The Hurricanes play a rigidly structured brand of hockey that makes the game easier to read and anticipate for the goaltender. They’ve gotten the most out of several unheralded netminders and could deliver the best version of Skinner we’ve seen. He’s not the most agile when the play breaks down, but he understands angles and net coverage extremely well, and can look like a brick wall when shots are coming from distance.

With his perceived value depreciated at the moment, Skinner could be the steal of the free-agent class if he were to land in the right situation.

Adin Hill

Best landing Spot: Toronto Maple Leafs

Hill is only one year into a six-year, $37.5 million contract he signed with the Golden Knights in March 2025, but after he lost the starting job to Carter Hart for the playoffs, it wouldn’t be surprising if Vegas shopped him to clear cap space this summer.

The 2025-26 season was one to forget for Hill. He was slow out of the gates, then suffered multiple lower-body injuries in October. It felt like he was playing catch-up the rest of the way and never found his game. That being said, he’s only a year removed from setting new career-highs in starts (50) and wins (32) in 2024-25.

More importantly for Toronto, Hill has a stellar playoff record. The 30-year-old has gone 17-12 in the postseason with a .917 save percentage and 16.77 goals saved above expected (GSAx), which trails only Bobrovsky and Igor Shesterkin since 2023. He won the Cup with Vegas in 2023 and finished third in voting for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Hill would pair well with Anthony Stolarz, who is under contract for the next four seasons at a modest $3.75 million cap hit. Both are big, athletic goalies with an edge to their game. Plus, Hill’s personality is built for the pressure of goaltending in Toronto.

Jordan Binnington

Best landing spot: Florida Panthers

As mentioned above, the Panthers are best off finding a way to keep Bobrovsky, but if that doesn’t happen, trading for Binnington would be a good consolation. It’s not the same tier of goalie, but there are plenty of similarities between the two that could make him a good fit in Florida.

Binnington isn’t the most consistent performer over the course of a long season, and last season’s numbers were putrid in St. Louis. But he is capable of playing lights out for short stretches, especially behind a talented team, which is what Florida projects to be with a healthy Aleksander Barkov and the addition of Brady Tkachuk.

Like Bobrovsky, Binnington is athletic and capable of stealing games. He was great for the Blues in the 2025 playoffs, and for Team Canada at both the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics.

It can’t be ignored how poorly Binnington played last season, when he finished last among all goalies with -25.71 GSAx, but entering the final year of his contract, the risk is minimal. If the Panthers can’t work out a short-term extension for Bobrovsky for another run at the Cup, Binnington is the next-closest thing with heaps of big game experience.

Sebastian Cossa

Best landing Spot: Edmonton Oilers

There has been plenty of smoke around this possible match, and for good reason. With John Gibson showing well last season for the Red Wings and top prospect Trey Augustine turning pro after a stellar collegiate career, Cossa is reaching an inflection point for his time in Detroit. With Cam Talbot set to hit free agency, the Red Wings could be ready to promote the 2021 first-round pick to the NHL. If not, trading Cossa would be smart, considering he’s no longer waiver exempt.

Outside of the fact that they don’t have a first-round pick in the next two drafts, the Oilers are a perfect fit for Cossa. For one, he could be Edmonton’s best goalie the moment he steps into the building. He’s big, athletic and creative with his save selections. Perhaps just as important, as a restricted free agent coming off an entry-level contract, Cossa shouldn’t account for a major cap hit.

Edmonton’s trade for Tristan Jarry last season was a high-floor, low-ceiling play that didn’t work in the slightest. This move would be the opposite. There’s a chance Cossa doesn’t live up to his pre-draft hype, but if he does, he would change the entire outlook for the Oilers. After all, this is the goalie who was drafted five spots ahead of Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt in 2021.

Devon Levi

Best landing spot: Utah Mammoth

Levi is in a similar situation to Cossa, stuck behind a jam of goalies with his waiver-exempt status set to expire. If the Sabres aren’t planning on including him on their NHL roster for the upcoming season, they would be wise to trade him. Meanwhile, Utah needs an upgrade behind Karel Vejmelka. Last season, Vítek Vaněček struggled in that role, which led the Mammoth to overplay Vejmelka for the second straight season.

Levi is a talented young goalie with quick feet and excellent skating, but he has also seen a decline in his AHL numbers for three straight seasons in Rochester. A change of scenery could do him some good, and it would be a relatively cheap way for Utah to upgrade its backup while adding a potential goalie of the future to the mix.

Frederik Andersen

Best landing spot: Pittsburgh Penguins

Andersen’s most likely scenario is returning to Carolina for a sixth season, but if the Hurricanes want to get younger in the crease, Pittsburgh would make sense for the veteran. The Penguins could be content rolling with the youthful tandem of Artūrs Šilovs and Sergei Murashov, but if they want to add experience, Andersen wouldn’t be too costly.

He has a past with Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas, whom he played three seasons for in Toronto, and while Andersen is no longer a full-time starter at this point in his career, he showed in the playoffs that he can still succeed in the right environment. If this past regular season was truly a signal that Father Time has caught up with Andersen, the Penguins are well-equipped to roll on without him.