The Columbus Blue Jackets were one of the many teams on Friday that made a splash in the free agent market. The team locked up 27-year- old defenseman James Wisniewski to a six-year deal worth $33 million.
This, combined with the acquisition of Jeff Carter, filled two of the Blue Jackets' most important needs. The other need for the Jackets was a goaltender to backup youngster Steve Mason.
There was a surplus of goaltenders available at noon today, including Ray Emery, Tomas Vokoun, Peter Budaj, Jose Theodore, Semyon Varlamov, Josh Harding, Brian Boucher, Mike Smith and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, just to name a few.
Another option the Jackets had was to re-sign backup Mathieu Garon, but it seemed like Columbus would be looking elsewhere.
As free agency began, goaltenders were being snatched up left and right. Montreal signed Budaj, Carolina signed Boucher, Phoenix signed Smith and Colorado won the goaltender frenzy signing both Giguere and Varlamov. Mathieu Garon would also find success being signed by Tampa Bay.
At the end of the day, the Blue Jackets were not able to acquire any of the above mentioned goaltenders. Instead, ...
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Article written by Patrick Drottar
Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Two Goaltenders; Is Steve Mason’s Job in Jeopardy?
July 1st, 2011 by Patrick Drottar Leave a reply »
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