Tomas Vokoun to Pens (and how it could affect rest of NHL)

For the 5 hockey fans on here...

Extremely interesting move today, Tomas Vokoun (expiring contract) was traded for a 7th round pick today to Pittsburgh, a deal which no one saw coming. Vokoun proceeded to sign a two-year, $4 million contract with the Pens. The Pens are acting like it's nothing more than wanting to have a great backup to give them more opportunities to give MAF rest during the season, but:

1) That's a lot of money for a backup goalie, under any circumstance.

2) That's a lot of money for a backup goalie when you don't know if you'll have enough $$ to re-sign Stall after next year.

3) As we all know, MAF absolutely stunk up the joint these playoffs.

4) It seems odd that a goalie of Vokoun's caliber and prestige would tolerate heading to a place where he could be nothing more than a backup, without at the very least posing a significant challenge to the starting job.

Obviously, it will be interesting to see what happens there. But even more interesting is what could happen for the rest of the league. Vokoun signing with Pitt takes one more goalie off the market, which is a big deal after Thomas' recent "retirement" (rumors about either Thomas/Rask being traded by Boston obviously aren't true now). This just increases the pressure on franchises like Edmonton, Columbus and Toronto who are in desperate need of goaltending to hit this offseason. Toronto is already rumored to be going heavily after Luongo. And then the fewer numbers available could mean a higher price in the free agent market, even with an uncertain CBA. It should be interesting to see how it plays out.