The Edmonton Oilers Need To Take Their Goaltending Search Seriously
By Ant Barberio
It’s time for the Edmonton Oilers to stop kicking the can down the road. The resurgence of Mike Smith was nice while it lasted, but the Oilers once again see their season end early due to a lack of decent goaltending. This offseason Edmonton must make finding a suitable netminder a priority.
Connor McDavid has four years left on his contract. Even though there are no early signs he wants out of oil country, let’s use that as a makeshift hypothetical cup window for Edmonton. The fact he had his historic post-season performance end in a sweep in the Conference finals doesn’t help, however. With the likes of McDavid and Leon Draisatl, not winning multiple cups during their time together would be a disappointment. Not even winning one would be a complete failure.
Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen obviously were not the answer. Koskinen is also a UFA this summer, so he’s no longer Edmonton’s problem. Stuart Skinner, who spent time between the NHL and AHL club this season, has put up respectable stats at 2.62 goals-against average and .913 save percentage, yet doesn’t project to be the next Grant Fuhr (yes, Fuhr’s numbers weren’t great, the point is he won a lot with those Edmonton team).
Goaltending has held the offensively gifted Edmonton Oilers back. They need to fix that to give Connor McDavid a chance at the Stanley Cup.
You can all but rule drafting a goalie out of the question. Even the best goaltenders typically take about five years after they are drafted to become NHL-ready regulars. That would be too far out if we stick to the “four years left of guaranteed McDavid” timeline.
The free-agent goaltending market has a few high-profile names this season. We will consider Darcy Kuemper and Thomas Greiss the headliners of the class. Marc Andre Fleury is the top name available, but retirement might be an option for him, so Edmonton should put all their hopes in the Fleury basket.
https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/1534567204238200833?s=20&t=Ji2Eg2dkGtQOK4tUKGHhyg
Maybe Edmonton will even turn to the trade market. Considering Ken Holland’s recent comments on Jesse Puljujarvi, he might be on the trade block. If he is then Edmonton can put together an attractive trade offer centered on him.
Mackenzie Blackwood from the New Jersey Devils is a name that has been tossed around. Maybe they’ll make a deal with the trade happy Seattle Kraken and take on a Philip Grubauer reclamation project. Considering Grubauer’s underlying stats point to him actually being bad this past year and not as a byproduct on playing on expansion Seattle, the Oilers might be cautious.
The path of least resistance would be to give the starting job to Skinner. With Edmonton’s offensive glory, they don’t need great goaltending, just average enough to keep them in the game and prevent an epic collapse. Edmonton might even be happy with getting Skinner-type goaltending (remember that 2.62 goals-against average and .913 save percentage we mentioned).
Skinner has never played more than 13 NHL games in a season. Hand him a higher workload, even if it’s a 1A and 1B scenario, and he might suffer some growing pains. Let’s say they make it to the playoffs in goal behind (well, technically in front of) Skinner. The playoffs are an entirely different beast with much more skill. Can you trust a goalie with only 14 total NHL games under his belt to go the distance and lead you to the Stanley Cup?
That was no problem for Jordan Binnington with the St. Louis Blues. It was also no problem for Cam Ward with the Carolina Hurricanes. Two of the best players of their generation lost another year of their careers because goaltending held the team back. Edmonton’s cup window is wide open if they can only find a goalie.