LeBrun: In the NHL’s UFA goalie carousel, who will stay and who will move?

The summer goalie carousel will be upon us once again soon enough.

Connor Hellebuyck, John Gibson, Carter Hart and Mackenzie Blackwood could potentially all be dealt, for starters. We’ll see how those scenarios play out especially closer to the draft in Nashville next week.

The Hellebuyck situation looms large over everything. No goalie on the market will have more impact on his new team more than the Vezina Trophy finalist. But also understanding that he’s looking for Andrei Vasilevskiy-esque money on his next deal (Hellebuyck has one year left on his current contract) is the complicating factor in whatever trade could materialize.

I would also point out that for all the rumored trade talk of Juuse Saros and, I mean, he would be an unreal acquisition for any team, my sense is Predators GM Barry Trotz would need to be overwhelmed by an offer to truly move him. It doesn’t mean it can’t happen, Trotz has to listen given where the Predators are in re-tooling their roster, but he’s not out there shopping him and I suspect it’s more likely he stays put.

The Leafs, meanwhile, have shown interest in re-signing pending RFA Ilya Samsonov. So long as both sides can figure out the sweet spot, looks like he’ll be back in Toronto.

But for the purposes of this article, let’s focus on pending UFAs only. There’s a long list of them this year.

When you factor in some AHL netminders perhaps being ready for a graduated role, I’m not convinced every UFA NHL goalie is going to land an NHL gig. We shall see.

Let’s dive into some pending UFAs here:

Adin Hill, 27, repped by agent Gerry Johannson

“We’re obviously going to give it the big college try to get him signed in Vegas,’’ Johannson told The Athletic over the phone Monday. “I think that’s always the goal when a guy likes it in a spot. We’re keeping an eye on everything else, too, but if we can make it work in Vegas, that would be the best thing, right?’’

Johannson added that they will be prepared if things can’t be figured out with Vegas. They’re doing their homework on the NHL landscape. But all things being equal, they hope to get Hill signed back in Vegas.

My sense based on what Johannson is saying here is that of course Hill is looking at a raise, but I don’t think this is about maximizing leverage off the Cup run. I think they know they’ve got a good thing going in Vegas. Hard to predict where all this goes for sure with all the goalie juggling in Vegas, not to mention the future of Robin Lehner that remains unclear, but I think the Knights will be able to sign Hill.

Petkau, it should be noted, also reps Hellebuyck, so it’s going to be a busy few weeks for the agent.

But let’s focus here on his pending UFAs. Here’s what Petkau had to say over the phone Monday on each:

On Brossoit, another Vegas UFA goalie: “Brossoit would also like to stay (in Vegas). We also know how many goalies they can have and how many goalies they have right now….