Capitals sign former Senators goaltender Craig Anderson.

The Washington Capitals have been left scrambling for a goaltender following the announcement that veteran netminder Henrik Lundqvist had been forced out of the 2021 National Hockey League season due to a heart condition, and it seems like they may have found a potential replacement on the free agent market. 

On Sunday the Capitals announced that they had signed veteran goaltender Craig Anderson to a professional tryout offer (PTO) which means that Anderson will get a chance to earn a job with the Capitals in training camp. The 39 year old American goaltender became a free agent in the offseason when the Ottawa Senators opted not to sign him to a new deal, this in spite of the fact that the Senators are not expected to contend and the fact that Anderson had been with the franchise for 10 consecutive seasons.

The Senators decision has no doubt been motivated by what appears to be a significant decline from Anderson over the course of the past 3 seasons, although admittedly those performances were with some pretty bad teams in front of him. Over 58 games in the 2017 - 2018 season he recorded a 3.32 goals against average and an .898 save percentage. Over 50 games in the 2018 - 2019 seasons he recorded qa 3.51 goals against average and a .903 save percentage and over 34 games in this most recent season he recorded a 3.25 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.

How much of that was due to the teams in front of him will no doubt play a role in whether or not the Capitals choose to extend him a contract, but given the injury to Lundqvist it seems obvious now that the Capitals are looking everywhere for a potential solution. 

The league's new rules surrounding a 'taxi squad' of players for the 2021 season, each NHL team will be forced to carry 3 goaltenders at all times between their regular roster and the new taxi squads, are no doubt also playing no small part in the Capitals decision to bring in Anderson for a potential role this season.

I'm interested to hear how many of you believe the long time Senators netminder can have a bounce back season, on a crammed schedule no less, with the Washington Capitals.