Report: Calgary Has Interest in Jonathan Bernier

No, that’s not a typo.

The Calgary Flames have had interest in taking on Jonathan Bernier’s contract during the 2015-16 season. The Calgary Sun’s Eric Francis told Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Thursday that the Flames have had some interest in the struggling netminder as a reclamation project that gives them a goalie on contract for next season.

Francis says that Brad Treliving and Brian Burke were in Toronto taking a look at Bernier this week, adding that “what they saw is what everybody else in Toronto saw all year… garbage.”

“The Calgary Flames have discussed taking on his contract,” Francis said. “It’s not the craziest idea out there. They need a goaltender next year. Pretty much everyone in the organization is either hurt or their contract ends this year.”

The Flames have the league’s second worst collective goaltending with a .881 save percentage. At even strength they have a .901 save percentage, still second worst in the league. Both Karri Ramo and Jonas Hiller are in contract years and not turning heads in a good way. Joni Ortio, who was thought to be the goaltender of the future, performed poorly when the team waived Ramo and showed some faith in him. Hiller has been injured, but is back. Jon Gillies is out for the season and Kevin Poulin remains out with an injury as well.

It’s a mess and only Jon Gillies is currently on contract for next season. (Poulin and Ortio are RFAs.)

So, while Bernier has been bad, the goaltending situation in Calgary has been equally as ugly.

Bernier is 0-8-2 this season with a .881 save percentage. It hasn’t been great, but it’s just been 10 games. He has a .914 save percentage over 185 career games.

UPDATE:

Flames tell me emphatically they are not pursuing Bernier, nor should they. They are looking at many goalie options, but not that one.

— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) December 18, 2015