Craig Anderson (March 9, 2011 - Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)
So Craig Anderson is going to be in Ottawa for the next four seasons. I think it's an interesting choice by Craig after Colorado recently traded him to the worst team in the east and he was headed to be an unrestricted free agent July 1. Here is a good article on what could happen to Anderson now that he’s locked in with Ottawa. It seems it could be the demise of Anderson’s career or he could put the Senators back into the playoffs as Ray Emery did.
This move seems interesting to me with Ottawa having two goalie prospects in Robin Lehner and Mike Brodeur. I would expect maybe a two year deal for Anderson, maybe three. That way Lehner could backup the next season or so. He would take on more games as time progressed then take over as the full time starter for Ottawa. Then again, as mentioned in the article, Ottawa has been through more than a handful of goalies over the past few seasons and consistency is something lacking in Ottawa's past goalies. Anderson had a great first full season as a starter in Colorado, helping them reach the playoffs and giving them a chance to win every night. He was also a really reliable backup for the majority of his career. This year was a little shaky, but the trade has refocused Anderson and he’s started to play decent for the last place Eastern Conference team. This looks to be a good move for the Senators and for Anderson as they are both looking to get some stability for themselves. What’s the worst that could happen for Ottawa…they could end up with a great backup, but at $3.18 a season it's not a terrible waste of cap space, and current trends have teams paying goalies around that amount.
